Life is a Highway
by Yoko Black
Summary: On an impulsive plan to travel from California to New York City to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Heero Yuy did not plan to pick up a hitchhiker in nowhere Texas. Faced with some setbacks and a growing attraction to his passenger, Heero goes through more challenges than he planned on facing. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Life is a Highway**

**Rating: T (rating may change to M)**

**Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5xM, 1xR**

**Summary: On an impulsive plan to travel from California to New York City to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Heero Yuy did not plan to pick up a hitchhiker in nowhere Texas. Faced with some setbacks and a growing attraction to his passenger, Heero goes through more challenges than he planned on facing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story. I make no money off of this.**

**A/N: This story is loosely based on the movie "**_**Leap Year"**_** with some twists of my own design. If you haven't watched it, please do. It's a great movie.**

**Chapter 1**

"We need to finalize the documents on the Weathers account and Black called again," said Heero's secretary, Mary. "He wants to know when you'll have the papers for his divorce."

"Tell Mr. Black that I will send him the final draft this afternoon by messenger," said Heero accepting the file Mary handed him.

"Yes, sir," said Mary.

"Get me all the documents I need for today."

Mary nodded and left to get the files Heero needed. Heero sat at his desk and picked up the straight black cup of coffee Mary had set on his desk as he logged into his computer to look through his schedule for the day.

Nearing his thirties, Heero was one of the top lawyers in San Francisco. He accredited his success to hard work. His goal was to be partner in Sanq &amp; Sons firm and possibly run it one day. He could say he had the perfect life. A law degree from St. Gabriel University and was dating a famous actress and super-model, Relena Peacecraft. Her father and brother actually owned Sanq &amp; Sons, which was how they met at a function, but he didn't let her position push him toward his goal. If there was one thing his father taught him was that hard work was its own reward.

As a future partner in the firm, and as the boyfriend to the owner's only daughter, Heero had a lot put on his plate. He didn't let it discourage him and went at his cases with everything he got.

"Don't forget the meeting with the board at Lagrange," said Mary as she walked in and handed Heero the files. "It's at one."

"Thank you, Mary," said Heero taking the files and opened the top one.

Heero knew he had a busy schedule today. He got through is morning case work and meetings without a hitch and went down at one to take his lunch, even though he ate a salad at his desk an hour ago, and meet Relena in front of Lagrange, the most exclusive apartment building in the city. He took a taxi to the building and met Relena out front.

"Heero," she said walking up to him and gave him a peck on the lips.

"How are you, Relena," he asked wrapping an arm around her automatically.

"Well, though I had to fire another hair dresser. None that my agent has hired can manage my hair at all."

Heero looked at her glossy blonde locks but couldn't find one hair out of place. He didn't know why she was complaining. He just ran a comb through his and was ready for the day but apparently women spent at least an hour preparing their hair and hers was in a simple pony tail tied back with a blue bow. What was worse was that it was her third hairdresser in three weeks.

"Can't you do your own hair?" he asked.

Relena looks at him, horrified.

"Do my own hair?! What do you think I am, a pauper? I don't do my own hair."

Heero sighed.

"Sorry, Relena," he said. "I'm sure you'll find a new hairdresser soon."

"I know I will," she said. "Come on. The board's waiting."

She took Heero's arm and led him inside. They took the elevator to the building office where they met with the three heads of the board.

"Mr. Yuy, Ms. Peacecraft," said the woman. "I'm Carla Reid and these two are Matthew Smith and Eric Jones."

"We are so please to be here," said Relena. Heero didn't mind Relena doing the talking. Except in the court rooms and meetings, he wasn't very social able.

"It says here you're a lawyer, Mr. Yuy," said Mr. Smith.

"Yes," said Heero. "I defend high class clients, make up their wills and so forth."

"Have you ever been in court," asked Mr. Jones.

"Yes, sir, I have. Many times."

"And you're a model, Ms. Peacecraft," asked Mrs. Reid.

"Model and actress," said Relena, emphasizing the last word.

"Sound like an exciting life," said Mrs. Reid.

"Oh, it is," said Relena. "The places I've seen have simply been amazing."

"And why do you want to live in the Lagrange?" asked Mrs. Reid.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I couldn't think of living anywhere else but here," said Relena. She reached over and took Heero's hand. "Luckily, I found someone who shared my dream."

There were a few more questions, mostly answered by Relena but Heero answered the few directed to him. A half hour later both walked out of the building, Relena elated and adamant that they got the apartment.

"Oh, this will be great, Heero love," she said. "We'll get the apartment, get married and live happily ever after."

"Of course, Relena," said Heero as Relena's phone went off and she checked it.

"Oh, it's Zechs," she said. Zechs was her brother and manager. "He wants me in for the shoot. We're still on for Catalonia's tonight, right?"

Relena never liked going to the places Heero preferred. Whenever they went out it was always to the restaurant owned by her best friend, Dorothy Catalonia. Heero thought it was because she wanted to support her friend.

Hero preferred establishments that were more middleclass. It was the way he grew up. Money didn't mean a lot to him. He did want money, but he didn't feel the need to throw it around and flash it like some people at the office. He liked steak grilled in a bar with barbeque sauce from the bottle and a glass of beer.

Relena wasn't one of those people. She liked to eat at places were the food was in French and a glass of wine with every meal. She frowned the first time she caught him with a bottle of beer and demanded for him to never "drink that swill" in front of her again.

"Of course," said Heero and watched her leave without a kiss or goodbye.

It wasn't the first time that Relena distanced herself from him. He didn't know why she did. He gave her as much attention that she wanted, remembered her birthday, anniversary and all other important functions she wanted him to attend. They were moving in together, so Heero was doubtful she was unfaithful.

He spent until four pondering this until he met his best friend Wufei for afternoon drinks.

"What's wrong, Yuy," asked Wufei as he sat down.

"Relena's distancing herself," he said. "I don't know why."

"Have you asked," said Wufei.

"Yes, but she said that everything was fine."

"Trust me, fine is woman talk for 'None of your business'."

Heero trusted Wufei a lot in matters of women. The man had been married for five years to his wife Meilin and helped Heero while he was dating Relena. It was weird how some of Wufei's advice didn't connect with Relena. Meilin Long was a police officer who never whined over a broken nail as Relena did and preferred steak to beef wellington. Once a week she taught martial arts to the neighborhood kids and helped out at the youth center. The most Relena did for charity was give a thousand dollars to save the whales.

Relena didn't really approve of Meilin. She said that because Wufei was a lawyer like Heero, he could do better than a lowly street officer. Heero never told Wufei any of this because he knew how much his friend loved his wife.

"I dated Meilin for a month before she asked me to marry her," said Wufei.

"I thought your marriage was arranged," said Heero.

"We're in America, not China," said Wufei. "Through my grandfather did like that I married a Chinese woman, I married her because I love her."

Heero paused in thought when Wufei's words clicked something in his head. They had been together nearly four years. By now, a couple would have been engaged. Was that why Relena was pulling away? Did she want them engaged?

"Do you think that's why she's distancing herself?" asked Heero. "Because I have proposed to her yet."

"It could be it. You have been together for four years. If you don't hurry, she might pull a Meilin."

That's why he will do. He'll propose to her at dinner that night. With that in mind, he finished his hanging out with Wufei and went to a high end jeweler and bought the most expensive engagement ring they had. He already knew Relena's size so he had no trouble getting the right ring.

An hour and a half later, he was sitting at a table at Catalonia's with the black velvet box in his pocket and a nervous left leg. Relena was twenty minutes late. She was never late. She was always adamant to be punctual for everything. If he was even two minutes late she would give him a reprimanding look. Heero learned to be five minutes early for everything.

Now she was twenty minutes late. If it wasn't Relena Heero wouldn't be worried. Now he was. He had half a mind to call her brother but decided to give her five more minutes.

The five minutes was almost up when Dorothy walked up.

"Sorry, Heero, I would have been here sooner, but there was a problem with the shipment," she said with a smile. Heero never did like the way she smiled. It made him feel like she was hiding something. Like a witch. "Relena said that she wouldn't be able to make it and that she was going to be doing a shoot in New York City for a week."

"Why didn't she call me?" he asked.

"Well, you were at work and she didn't want to call you while you were busy," she said. She turned toward a sound in the kitchen before giving Heero another of her witchy smiles. "Excuse me."

She went into the kitchen and started yelling at someone in French. Heero sat in his seat in shock and confusion. Relena left California without telling Heero. The girl was adamant on him telling her all of his destinations but not telling him hers. It was at those times, Heero felt his relationship was one-sided.

Standing, Heero put a tip on the table and walked out. Taking out his phone, he dialed Relena's number but immediately got the voice mail. At the beep, he spoke.

"Relena, I'm at the restaurant and I just got your message, from Dorothy. Why didn't you call me and tell me instead of making me look like an idiot and wait for you? Call me."

He took a taxi and went back to his apartment. It was lavish, a fact Relena berated on him every time she visited. He sat on his couch with the ring box open on the coffee table in front of him, right next to the wedding magazine Relena left on the table. She read everything on fashion. The diamond winked at him in the light of the single lamp. What was he to do now? He had everything planned, granted it took a hour but he thought it would have been good.

Picking up his phone, he dialed the one number he could always rely on.

"How did it go, Yuy?" asked Wufei after picking up. "I didn't expect you to call until tomorrow."

"Relena never came," said Heero. "She had Dorothy relay a message that she was going to New York for a week, after I waited half an hour for her."

"She had Dorothy give you a message at the restaurant? Why didn't she call you?"

"I don't know. I called her but it went straight to voice mail."

Wufei paused.

"Yuy, I'm no expert on girls, but I'd say Relena's telling you something."

"Telling me what?"

"How the hells would I know? I'm not a girl expert." There was the sound of a slap. "Ow! Damn it, woman!"

"Give me that," said Meilin. "Heero, tell me what happened?"

Heero related the entire event. When he was finished, Meilin paused to think.

"Heero, in my experience is that when a girl asks a friend to give a message, she wants to avoid the guy."

"Why would Relena want to avoid me?" asked Heero.

"Well, let's see, you've been together for four years and you have not popped the question once," she said.

Heero paused and Meilin gasped.

"You were!" she said. "You were going to propose to her!"

"Kind of redundant now," he said.

"It doesn't have to be," said Meilin.

One of Heero's eyebrows went up with intrigue.

"How?"

"You could go to New York and propose to her."

Both of Heero's eyebrows shot up.

"Go to New York," he said.

"It'll be so romantic," said Meilin. "You going to New York and proposing to her in Time's Square."

"You think?"

"Meilin, this isn't a dollar store romance novel," said Wufei. There was a smack. "Ow! Damn it, woman!"

"Just because you don't know jack squat about romance doesn't mean Heero doesn't," she said to her husband before speaking with Heero again. "Flowers, dinner and then pop the question. Trust me, she'll love it."

"Are you sure it'll work?" asked Heero.

"Positive. Good luck!"

She hung up and Heero put down his phone in thought. Go to New York and propose to her there? It was a farfetched idea, but would it work?

With one thought in mind, he grabbed his phone, the ring box and went to his bedroom to pack.

XXXXXX

Meilin smirked as she hung up and turned to her husband who looked at him with a flabbergasted look.

"What?" she asked.

"Why did you do that?" he said. "Do you know how Relena treats him? I say her being away from him is a fucking good thing."

"Exactly," she said. "The trip will give him time to think and hopefully discover himself."

"Discover himself?" asked Wufei curiously. Did she know something about Heero that he didn't?

She pats him lovingly on the cheek. Wufei can't help but feel she was sympathizing with him.

"You'll see," she said. "It's your turn to do dishes tonight."

He sighs. Sometimes, his wife was like a vault. There was no way she'd open up to her secrets.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Heero glanced at the GPS on his dashboard before looking back at the road. He was somewhere in the middle of Kansas after being on the road for the past day and a half and he was starting to get a bit tired of it. He knew that he could have taken a plane from California to New York, but he didn't want to deal with claims or whining children in coach, and he hated flying. A bus would also be effective, but Heero didn't want any company while he was traveling, so he packed his car and left.

After almost two days, he was bored. He played music and put in audio books to fill the silence but nothing helped. He was bored.

And it also didn't help that every snow storm in Kansas decided to veer toward him. Being from California, he wasn't used to driving through snow, so he was taking it as slowly as he could while still trying to make time. When he first set out on this journey, he had been very confident but now he was annoyed.

Since he was so inexperienced with driving in snow, he didn't see the patch of black ice and swerved off road. He spun the wheel to try and right himself, but instead he spun and crashed into a tree. The airbags exploded in front of him and he was momentarily stunned.

"Damn it," he said. Was nothing going right for him?

Tugging on his gloves, he got out of the car and took a look at the damages. A huge dent in the side of the car, smoke coming from under the hood, and if that wasn't bad enough, he had a flat tire.

He cursed in English and Japanese. Getting back into his car, he pressed the button on the rearview mirror.

"Emergency services, this is Mary, how can I help you," said a chipper voice of a girl of the intercom.

"This is Heero Yuy,I crashed my car," he said. "I got a flat tire and it won't turn on."

"Would you like for me to call you a tow truck," said Mary and there was a pause.

"Yes," said Heero.

"I have your location and contacted the nearest mechanic shop," said Mary. "A tow will be by shortly. Would you like me to stay on the line for you?"

"No, thank you, Mary."

"Have a nice day, Mr. Yuy," said Mary before disconencting.

Heero sat back to wait for the tow truck to arrive, wrapping his coat as tightly around him as he could. His trip had been supontantious so he didn't have the proper outer wear for winter. He ha dgrabbed the warmest coat he owned and headed off. Now he was cursing himself for not thinking the trip through more thoroughly.

To pass the time, he pulled out a book to read, illuminated by the book light attatched to the cover. It wasn't often when Heero did read, hetried to get at least an hour a day to unwind, but when he did, he loved reading crime novels. Relena didnt see the reason why he would since he was a lawyer and dealt with criminals almost daily. In return, Heero didnt see how a person would just read fashion magazines.

He was so imersed inhis story that he didn't hear the sound of a truck pull up until there was a tap on his window. He looked up to see a young man around his age holding a flash light with a black knitted wool beanie and a thick winter coat. The light illuminated the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen. Heero opened his door slightly.

"Can I help you," asked Heero.

"I'm the tow," said the man. "Name's Duo, Duo Maxwell."

"Heero Yuy," said Heero.

Duo held his gloved hand out to Heero and Heero shook it, trying to hide his shivering from the cold, but the other man must have noticed.

"Oh, shit, you're freezin!" he said. "Here, let's get you in my truck. I've got the heater on, warm blankets and coffee. You warm up while I hitch up your car."

"Thank you," said Heero.

Duo lead Heero to his truck, where he wrapped Heero in a wool blanket and poured him a cup of coffee from a themos. The radio station was set to a country station and Charlie Daniels played through.

"Sugar? Cream?" asked Duo holding up the two items. Heero shook his head. "Oh, a black guy. I like both, you know. Got myself a sweet tooth. Quatre says it'll rot myteeth someday but that hasn't happened yet. I'll hitch your car and we'll get out of here and someplace warm."

Heero nodded, happy to finally be back intothe warmth. Duo left and Heero heard the sounds of his car being pulled up to the truck bed and locked into place. A couple minutes later, Dup rejoined him in the car.

"God, it's colder then hell out there," he said, holding his hands to the heating vents. When his fingers became unfrozen enoughto move, he pulled back onto the road and drove.

"I saw on your plates that you're from California, what's it like there?" asked Duo.

"No snow, for one," said Heero.

"Yeah, well, there's that. Where at in California? L.A.? Paulo Alto?..."

"I just want to get to a garage and find out how long it'll take for my car to get fixed," said Heero.

"Yeah, well, that's going to take a while," said Duo. "I took a peek under the hood. Your battery's shot, radiator's cracked and that's just what I can see. It's going to take a while to fix."

Heero cursed. This was not going well with his plans. He only had less than a week till Valentine's Day and he needed to be in New York City before then, which would be impossible without a car.

"Where are you heading?" asked Duo.

"New York City," said Heero.

"No shit! I'm heading that way tomorrow. City so nice they named it twice. I'm going to all the majors."

Heero looked at him curiously. "Majors?"

"Yeah. Major cities, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, Alamo, all of them. I'm traveling to see them all."

"Why?" asked Heero.

Duo shrugged. "Why not? Better than sitting on my butt on my nine to five job and going home to do nothing but what show's I TiVoed during the day. Out there, seeing new places, meeting new people. It's awesome."

"But you drive a tow truck."

"Oh, yeah," said Duo laughing. "I kinda ran out of money a month ago when I came here, so I asked around for a job and Howard, who owned the garage, said I could help out, and take to room upstairs, rent free."

Heero looked at Duo curiously. This man, for no other reason than because he wanted to, was driving around the country to visit all the national monuments. He had never met anyone who would do something on a whim. It was almost exciting.

"How long have you beenon the road?" asked Heero.

"Fourteen months," said Duo. "I walk around cities every now an then. "Already went to L.A. And all the hot spots. Now it's the East coast."

Duo proceeded to talk about all the places he had been and Heero was slightly hypnotized by the sound of the man's voice. It was slightly annoying, but the emotions behind everything he said was captivating.

He was so lost in Duo's words that he hadn't realized they had reached the garage until Duo parked.

"And here we are!" sadi Duo. "Howard's inside, so if you want to speak with him, go on ahead. I'll just get your car inside to he can look under the hood."

"Hn," said Heero, opening the door, and cringed against the blast of cold that immediately hit him. He quickly jogged intot he garage and back into the warmth. When he walkedin, he was surprised to find no one at the front desk. "Hello?"

"Back in!" called a voice. "Don't mind the mess. I got a system."

Heero walked into the garage and found the place was a mess. Tools and parts covered every available surface. Under a lift holding up an old Caddilac, laid a man wearing a bright red Hawaiin shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of sandals. Heero looked at the man in shock. Who in their right mind would wear something like that in the middle of winter?

The board was pushed from under the car and a man with wild white hair and wearing sunglasses emerged.

"Pleased to meet you," he said holding out a grease stained hand. "Name's Howard. I own this garage." Howard noticed the state of his hand and drew it back. "Oh, sorry."

He took out a rag, wiped his hand and held it out again for Heero to shake.

"Heero Yuy," said Heero shaking the offered hand. "I'm a bit in a hurry, so if you canfix it by morning..."

"Well, I'd have to take a look at it first," said Howard as Duo locked it on a lift. "But I can tell you right now hat it'll take more than one night to get this road ready. If you're willing to wait..."

"I can't. I'm on a schedule. I need to be in New York by the fourteenth."

Howard rubbed his chin in thought.

"Hmm, Valentine's Day?" he said. "Going to see your sweetheart?"

"Yes," said Heero. "And I need a car by tomorrow."

"Well, sorry to tell ya, but this one's not going anywhere anytime soon," said Howard. "Bu if you're really desperate, I suppose I can sell you Old Black there. Bought it last week in auction after Old Man Miller kicked it. Old fool said the only way he'd sell was after he died. Well, he was true to his word."

He poined to an old Chevrolet Impala. Heero wasnt an expert in cars, so he couldn't tell how old it was, but it looked to be over twenty years.

"Does it run?" he asked.

Both Howard and Duo laughed. Duo pulle doff his snow covered cap and Heero staired in shock as a mohogany colored braid fell from the cap and tumbled down Duo's back, resting at his hip. He wasn't too shocked to see a man in long hair, he had meet Relena's brother, but it strangly enhanced Duo's features. Heero was shocked for a moment by how beautiful Duo was before he realized Duo was talking again.

"Does it run?" said Duo. "This is a classic. Nothing runs like a classic. I fixed it up myself and tune it everyday. Of course it runs."

"I was going to sell it to Duo," said Howard, "but I figured a loan wouldn't be so bad. I'd have your car up and running in a week. What do you say?"

Heero considered the offer for a second. He really needed to get to New York, and it was better than no car at all. What was important was if it got him to NewYork. He was incline ot believe it could run since niether Duo nor Howard looked like they would sell him a defective car.

"How much?" he asked.

"Three hundred," said Howard.

"Deal," said Heero.

"I'll get the paperwork for you tomorrow," said Howard. "Duo can show you to the hotel."

"Sure," said Duo turning to the door. "You know i'm buying that car off of you, Howard."

"Yeah, yeah," said Howard getting back under the car.

Duo tugged the cap back on as he walked toward the tow truck. Both got in and John Denver's "Country Roads" started playing through the radio.

The silence only lasted a couple minutes until Duo spoke.

"So, uh, New York? Going to see a girl?"

"Yes," said Heero.

"Do you...want company?" Heero gave him a curious look. "I finish at Howard's tomorror, and I heading that way anyway. I figured you'd like some company. I have money for gas, and I can pay for my own room."

Heero thought for a moment. He had never thought of having company as he travelled, probably because he intended to travel by himself. The concept still didn't appeal to him after Duo asked.

"No," he said. "I travel alone."

"Alone," said Duo with a small laugh. "Sounds boring. It's always more fun with someone."

"Is this from personal experience?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Duo. "Some things are better with company."

"That may be, but I prefer being alone. The answer is still no."

Heero turned back to the window without waiting for Duo's answer.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Heero woke the next morning early enough to shower and grab breakfast at the local diner that was walking distance from the hotel Duo drove Heero to the night before. The hotel was comfortable amazingly enough, owned by a man local in town named Noventa. It turned out his wife owned the diner along with his granddaughter. Heero had a late dinner there and was surprised to find the food as delicious as any four star restaurant in L.A.

There was a door chime when he opened the door. The diner was actually quite quant and slightly busy despite the size of the town. By the way the waitresses were greeting the customers, they had to be locals. Heero sat at an empty seat in front of the counter and a young woman with blonde hair walked up to him.

"Hi, my name's Sophia," she said. "Can I take your order?"

"Eggs special and coffee," he said.

"Coming right up," she said writing it down and headed toward the kitchen. She returned a minute later with a cup and a pot of cup. "Sugar? Cream?"

"No, thank you," said Heero.

Sophia nodded and left for Heero to drink in peace. A few minutes later, she placed a plate of eggs, sausage and hashbrowns in front of him. As soon as he started eating, the door chimed and Sophia smiled.

"Hey, Duo," she said. "Your usual?"

"You know me so well, Sophia," said Duo sitting a couple seats away from Heero.

"You heading for New York today?" she asked, filling a cup in front of Duo with coffee and set sugar and cream next to it.

"Yep," said Duo, adding an ungodly amount of sugar and cream. "I'm going to hike to the truck stop and try to get a ride from one of the truckers."

Sophia's eyes widen in shock.

"Duo, that's ten miles away! And in this weather, you'll freeze to death!" she said.

He smiled at her reasuringly.

"I'll be allright," he said. "All I need is a thermos of your grandma's coffee and chicken and vegetable soup and I'll be all set."

"At least let one of us take you," said Sophie. "Grandma and Grandpa won't mind."

"You don't have to that. I'll be fine. You'll see me again in the spring, promise."

Sophia looked sceptical, but went to the back to get Duo's meal. Duo turned and saw Heero eating not far from him.

"Hey, man, how did you sleep?" he asked.

"Surprisingly well," said Heero.

"That's great," said Duo with a smile. "Are you going to get your car after breakfast?"

"Yes," said Heero, sipping his coffee. "Are you sure it's wise to walk to a truck stop miles away in this weather?"

"Well, if I had a car, it would certainly be easier, but I think I can make it."

Heero studied the man as Sophia came and set a plate of strawberry pancakes in front of him. This man was willing to brave the cold to continue his journey. He was an idiot.

Heero finished his breakfast and left to walk to the auto garage. It was cold, but thankfully Heero only had to walk a couple of blocks to the garage. Howard already had the garage open and was working on Heero's car.

"I'm here for the car," said Heero.

"Sure," said Howard. He went to a key rack and took down a set of keys. "Here you go. One Impala, as ordered."

Heero took the keys with a nod of thanks.

"I'll have it back in a week," he said.

"I'll hold you to it," said Howard. He watched as Heero walked to the car and shook his head. "That boy is wound up tighter than a rattle snake on a summer's day."

Heero packed all his bags into the trunk of the Impala and drove out of town. He was more than ready to get back on the road and make up for the time he had lost the day before, although it had been interesting meeting the people in the small town. He wasn't used to people being involved in other people's lives. In the night he bad neem there, he learned that Mrs. Booth, the old woman who livedfive miles out of town, had broken her hip and there was a pot going to send her food and help her around the house, and that the Petersons had a new baby and the knitting circle was making it a blanket. He also had several people talk to him as he was eating, just to make him feel welcomed. It was different from California where everyone minded their own business. Even Duo was into it. He offered to make Mrs. Booth a casserole and gave money for the new parents. He had only been there a month but he already intagrated himself in the community.

A figure appeared ahead on the road, trugging through the foot high snow. At first he didn't recognize the figure be of the bag on his back, but as he got closer, he saw that it was Duo. He remembered that Duo told Sophia that he was going to walk to a truck stop that was ten miles out of town. He thought of just continuing, but before he could do it, he pulled the car over. Duo jogged over and looked through the window.

"Heero! Damn, I'm surprised to see you," he said. "I thought you were long gone."

"That makes two of us," said Heero. "Are you seriously going to walk to the truck stop?"

"Unless you want to give me a ride, yes."

Heero looked at the man, incredulous. He really was going to walk to the truck stop. This guy was crazy.

"Get in," he said.

"Really? Sweet!" said Duo. Duo went around to the passenger side and got in. Heero pulled back onto the road and drove. "Thanks for the pick up, man. I hoped that I wouldn't have to walk all the way there."

"What would you have done when you got there?" asked Heero.

"Asked one of the truckers for a ride," said Duo.

"Is that actually safe?" asked Heero. "What is they're killers or something?"

"Some are scumbags, but I'd hardly say they are killers," said Duo. "Besides, I'm a good judge of character. I never go with someone who creeps me out."

"It doesn't matter if you are a good judge. One mistake could be your last."

Duo chuckled. "I haven't been wrong yet, have I? I was right about you, wasn't I?"

Heero looked confused as he drove. Right about what? They barely interacted. What was it about him that Duo was right about?

"Right about what?" he asked.

"You come off as a complete emotionally stunted person, but you're actually a really nice guy. You could have just kept driving, but instead you pulled over and let me in. That tells me what kind of guy you are."

"I'll feel sorry for whichever girl catches your eye," said Heero.

"Oh, I'm not interested in girls. I'm gay."

Heero nearly choked on his spit. He was used to meeting with gays and lesbians, but he wasn't too used to someone saying quite the way Duo did. Like it was no big deal. What kind of guy was he?

"Is that a problem?" asked Duo. From the tone, Heero would have thought Duo sounded worried.

"No, it's not," said Heero. "I've worked with gays and homosexuals before."

"Cool! It was a little hard when I got to town. Sophia developed a little bit of a crush on me and I didnt know how to really let her down gently, so I just blurted it out and then she was like, "Cool. How about a date with my cousin, Ben?"

Heero allowed himself a small laugh. It was a little funny listening to Duo retell his experience in the small town. Like the day before, ther ewas something about Duo's voice that was compelling. Heero doesn's usually like people talkingto him. Wufei was an exception because he only talked about important stuff, and Relena chatters on about her job, her friends and the fashion shows she's going to. Duo talked about the places he had been and the people he'd met with more excitement than he expected on someone his age.

"Uh, Heero, we passed the turn off," said Duo after they passed a turnlane toward the truck stop.

"I'm taking you to New York," said Heero.

"You are?' said Duo in surprise.

"I'm not going to leaving you in a potential dangerous situation. I'm a lawyer. I know what could happen."

"Yeah, could happen. I'm not helpless, 'Ro. I can take care of myself."

Heero was surprised by the nickname. No one gave him a nickname before, not even Wufei, whom he had known since law school. To hear one come out from Duo was both surprising and interesting.

"What made you change your mind?" asked Duo.

"I simply don't want to be an accessory to murder."

Duo laughed.

"I highly doubt that would happen," said Duo. "So tell me a bit about yourself."

"Why?"

"Because it's a long trip,and I want to know more about my traveling companion. So?"

"I'm a lawyer."

Duo snorted a laugh and looked at him intriqued.

"Gee, Sherlock, I wouldn't have guessed."

"I live in San Fransciso and work for the Sanq &amp; Sons law firm. I gratuated from St. Gabriel's University and I'm dating Relena Darlian-Peacecraft..."

"Wait, _the_ Relena Peacecraft? The subject of every straight guy's wet dream?"

Heero's face flushed slightly. He knew Relena was a popular model, and knew that every man in the world wanted to be with her. At parties hosted by people she knew such as fashion designers or other models, he was the arm to lean on and mostly ignored. Eye candy, but somehow he tolerated it and continued to be with her.

"Yes," he said. "Why is that surprising?"

"Because last I read, she was single."

Heero nearly ran the car off the road. Relena, single? They had been together for four years, with paparazzi following her every move, and they haven't reported their relationship. Why?

"Hey, man, you okay?" asked Duo.

"Yeah," said Heero, controlling his shock. "It's normal from there. Not much to tell."

"What about parents?"

"Don't have any," said Heero curtly.

"I'm sorry," said Duo. "I don't have parents either. I was raised by my great-uncle and his daughter. They're the closest I have to parents. I don't even remember my parents. According to them, there was a car accident and they died when I was six, and I lost all memory of them. They show my pictures and home movies, but I don't remember. But I don't let it get to me. Can't change the past, but we can look forward to the future."

"I'm sorry," said Heero, unsure on what to really say.

"It's okay. Like I said, I've got pictures, and apprently I look like my mom."

So that's where he got his feminine looks, thought Heero.

Duo reached into the glove compartment and took out a road map.

"So, where to first?" he asked.

"There's actually a road map in there?" asked Heero in shock.

"Yeah. I place up to date road map in all the cars, even the newer models with all that fancy GPS and stuff. There's nothing like a driver, navigator, a map and the open road. People are too plugged in. The only time I've used my cell phone for the last years was to answer messages once a week and make calls to let my family know I'm alive. I hardly ever use a computer except to answer my emails."

Heero was surpsied by how unplugged Duo was. In California, Heero was checking his phone every five minutes in case one of his clients called or if the office needed him. He didnt know anybody that didn't depend on their phone in one way or another.

"What kind of name is Duo anyway?" asked Heero.

"I was actually named after my great-uncle, Eric, but since that would get confusing, they called me by my middle name, Allen. When I was eight, I learned about all these kings like King Louis the XIV and King Goerge the First, and I was a smart alec back then and announced to the whole school, 'Well, if I'm named after someone, I'd rather be called Duo!' And that's been my name ever since. What about you? Why are you called 'Heero'?"

"I was named after my grandfather," said Heero. "I never met him so that's all I know."

"That's cool. It's great to be named after someone. It's like honoring them, and I love my uncle."

Heero guess that he shouldn't have been surprised by the love and pride that was in Duo's voice when he spoke of his uncle. Heero's family situation was entirely different, and it was a past he didn't like to relive.

"What about you?" asked Duo.

"Both of my parents are dead, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know how it is to grow up without parents. It can get lonely a lot."

Heero looked at Duo in surprise. It was like Duo could see into Heero without even realizing it. His life had been lonely. He devoted himself to his schooling and never made any friends. Wufei was the only one he acknowledge as his friend and they had met in college. He never realized how alone he was until Duo pointed it out.

Through the rest of the day, Duo spoke of the places he had been. Heero would never say it, but having a companion was a nice change of pace.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The first part of their journey together was interesting to say the least. Duo was an endless book of information on living on the road. According to him, he had been almost everywhere, except for the thirteen colony states.

"I always meant to," said Duo, "But I never got around to it. Stupidity on my part."

The only complaint he had was Heero's choice of music. As Heero drove, the speakers played soft orchastra music. The music helped calm his nerves as he drove. When Duo took his turn at the wheel, the music had immediately been switch to rock and Heero spent four minutes listening to Duo sing along to "Eye of the Tiger". He admitted that Duo had a fair voice, but rock wasn't his cup of tea. When he tried to change the station, Duo smacked his hand away.

"Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole," said Duo and continued driving.

Heero was surprised by how quickly he had become accostumed to Duo's presence. By all accounts, Duo's cheerful, boisterous nature should annoy Heero but somehow, Heero found it refreshing. He was too used to the company of serious lawyers or the collected Wufei. Meilin was a force unto herself and learned to not figure her out. Duo was like a hurricane. There was nothing that stood in his way.

Now they were pulling in for the night into a town that Duo swears has a nice motel and great food. Since they didn't phone ahead, Heero prayed they had two rooms available for them. Luckily, his fears were unfounded when there was one double bedroom available. They booked it, splitting the fee and moved their overnight bags into the room.

"See, what did I tell you. Nice," said Duo setting his bag on one of the beds.

Heero had to admit that it was nice. Everything was set up neat and tidy ready to be used. The bathroom had clean towels for bath and soap and shampoo to use. There was a refridgerator stocked with water and juice and a small snack bar.

"It'll do," said Heero setting his bag down.

Duo gave him a sarcastic look.

"Well, I could book you into the Four Seasons if you wanted," he said.

Heero laughed softly as Duo's joke. Dressed as he was, one would think that Heero prefered a five star hotel, but really, he liked simplicity. This hotel was perfect for him.

"Okay, so, I know a great place to eat, and I only have one question," said Duo eagerly.

"What's that?" asked Heero.

"Do you know how to play pool?"

That was how Heero found himself in a very western style bar and grill thirty minutes later. There was a pool table and a jukebox set by one wall and the air smelled like old beer and barbeque. It wasn't a place Heero would usually go, but it did have a jubalent appeal to it. There was almost a room full of patrons eating, talking or watching a game on a television above the bar.

The food was good. Barbequed ribs with fries. Duo kept making delighted sounds as he ate, which made Heero laugh softly. When they were finished with thier meal and after a five minute break to let it settle, Duo challenged Heero to a game of pool.

Heero had no trouble playing pool. It was how he got half his college fund. The other half was spending hours at an electronics store showing customers how to use the computers they had just bought. Between studying, working and tests, Heero had no time for dating until he got out of college. That was when he met Relena and his life became how it was now.

Now, he watched as Duo racked the balls and set the cue ball on the table and picked up a pool cue.

"Do you want to go first?" asked Duo.

In response, Heero picked up another cue, sighted along the wood, shot the cue ball and two solid balls hit two holes.

"Solids," he said, smirking. Duo laughed and their game began.

"So, what kind of lawyer are you?" asked Duo as he took his shot.

"I told you I work for Sanq &amp; Sons," said Heero. "We mostly do corporate work, some court if our clients get into trouble, or divorce work. That sort of stuff."

"'That sort of stuff'?" Duo said with slight critisism and laughed. "Sounds to me like you don't like your work."

"What do you mean?"

Duo took his shot before picking up a bottle of beer and took a sip.

"Well," he said. "It seems to me that you don't really like your job. You do want to be a lawyer, right? You did spend six years in school for that, yeah?"

Heero nodded. For years, even before college, he had studied to become a lawyer because he wanted to be repected by people and make good money, but he had to admit that he didn't find any satifaction with his work.

"Well, why do something you clearly don't like?" continued Duo. "Why not do something you do like with the skills you have? I mean, you have the ideal life. A successful lawyer, penthouse suite, beautiful girlfriend and yet you don't like it. Why?"

Heero paused to think, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Would you even have a girlfriend if you weren't a lawyer and loaded? Relena does have a unique lifestyle. I doubt she would go out with anyone who couldn't keep up with her." He took a sip of his beer before continuing. "You're another horse of a different color."

"What do you mean," asked Heero.

"You still dress like a city slicker, but you've obviously been in a country club before. You have have had hard beer before given how you're drinking that lodger and you're not squeamish about eating pub food. You're probably more comfortable here than those socialite parties your girlfriend drags you to."

Heero looked at Duo in surprise. He never thought of that. Relena did have certain needs, and Heero had worked hard to live up to them. Even the apartment at the Legrange was what Relena wanted.

He was shocked that Duo could read him so well. Heero was more comfortable here. Unlike the social parties, here he didn't have to pretend to be someone he wasn't. He could be himself, and it was refreshing.

It kind of annoyed him a bit.

"You don't know a thing about me," he said.

"Let me ask you a question, If you're fancy, new apartment was fire and you only had sixty seconds to grab one thing, what would it be?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"It's a perfectly legitimate question. So what's your answer? Is it the Chihuahua on the duvet?"

"What would you take?" asked Heero, because he didn't know how to answer.

Duo chuckled.

"Like I'm telling you," he said taking a drink.

Heero was frustrated that Duo was giving him the run around but a good lawyer got what they wanted with patience and subtly.

"Tell me about yourself, Duo," he said. "Where you're from, what you did, when did you come out?"

"Interrogating me, Mr. Yuy?"asked Duo playfully as he took his shot. Heero shrugged. The game was nearly finished and he was sure that he was winning. "Well, as you know I lost my parents and I was raised by my great-uncle, right? Well, he was also the priest for our small Alabama town. It seemed like everyone in town would come in every Sunday and listen to Uncle Eric preach.

"I was fifteen when I came out, or rather got caught. Uncle Eric caught me kissing Rick Vorhes behind my aunt's house. I was terrified he'd be disgusted or disown me or something. He just led me aside and told me that he understood my feelings and that God made me the way He wanted. Uncle Eric couldn't fault me for what was clearly God's intention from the start. My cousin Helen even understood.

"Only one of my relatives was against my choice of partners. My great aunt Sophia kept calling me hell bound if I kept associating with men and tried to force my uncle to keep me from doing those "sinful" things. She even tried to enter me into one of those rehabilitation camps. My cousin went to one of those. He's bi and Sophia made him go because she's his mom. He still won't talk about what happened there. Luckily, Uncle Eric figured out what she was doing and stopped her. Everything went on normally from there."

"Did you have a job?" asked Heero.

Duo's eyes looked downcast and he cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I owned and was head chef of a restaurant, but it went under and I couldn't dig it back up," he said before taking a drink.

"Oh," said Heero. "I'm sorry."

Duo shrugs. "It was a while ago. I'm over it." Duo aimed his stick with the cue ball and shot. The eight ball shot into a hole. He turned to smile back at Heero. "I win."

Heero nodded, conceding his defeat, and took a sip of his beer when a voice spoke.

"How about a game with us? Maybe a wager even?"

They turned to find a couple of young men who looked like they had just came out of college. The look on their faces told Heero and Duo that they thought they had found easy money. Heero and Duo looked at each other and Duo shrugged.

"Why not," he said. "How about you play against my friend here? I'm gonna get another drink."

He set his pool cue on the table and walked off. Heero racked up the balls and set a twenty down on the table.

"Double?" he asked smirking.

An hour later, after several rounds between both Heero and Duo, the young men became increasingly angry from their losing streak.

"You're cheating!" one said pointing accusingly at Duo. "There's no way you could have won three times in a row!"

"You're the one who challenged us," said Duo. "How coould we possibly be cheating you when you challenged us?"

"We want our money back," said the other. Duo looked at him angrily.

"What? But we won it fair and square!"

"We want our money, _all_ of it."

"Now, come on," said Heero hoping to stop any trouble from accuring. "I'm sure we can come up with something. How about half..."

"No, all of it," said the second man, shoving Heero.

Heero stumbled. Normally, he would have quicky recovered thanks to self defense training, but he tripped over a stool and landed against the chest of a biker.

"Hey, watch it!" yelled the biker and Heero barely dodged the massive fist thrown his way.

XXXXXX

"Ow, that hurt," said Heero, shoving Duo's hand away.

"Don't be such a baby," said Duo, throwing the cotton swab soaked in peroxide away. "It's just a tiny cut."

"You're one to talk," said Heero, wincing when he pulled his split lip. "You didn't get kicked by that biker's girlfriend."

"Because I know how to dodge." Duo put some ice in a plastic bag, wrapped it in a towel and dropped it onto Heero's lap. Heero jumped at the sudden cold, but didn't move the ice from the bruise forming. "That girl can kick. I bet it's been a while since you've been in a bar fight."

"Yeah," said Heero chuckling. Last time he had been in a bar fight was in college with Wufei, and there had been more bruises involved. Wufei was a multiple black belt, and one of the few that could keep up with Heero in a fair fight. Bar fights were always unpredictable, so he always wound up with more scrapes and bruises than he wanted.

Duo, on the other hand, was used to bar fights. He easily dodged every kick, punch and chair thrown his way with minimal bruising. He even saved Heero a couple of times. Heero was surprised by how welll they fought together despite never doing so before.

"That girl had a good kicked," said Duo.

"She got a lucky shot," said Heero. "I was too preoccupied with her boyfriend to notice her."

Duo chuckled as he took out another cotton swab and soaked it in the peroxide he had stashed in his backpack. Heero was surprised when Duo opened the bag to find his first aide kit. Other than clothes, Duo had a first aide kit, granola bars, a bottle of water and Kool-Aid travel packs, a tablet and a book. Duo soaked the cotton swab and hesitantly dabbed it on the cut above his eye. Heero sighed dejectedly.

"Here, let me," he said setting the ice aside and walked up to the other man. He took the cotton swab and light but firmly dabbed the cut. Duo didn't flinch or cry out, but Heero saw his hands curl against the sting of the disinfectant.

Up close, Heero was shocked to find out clear Duo's eyes were. They were such a deep shade of blue they could almost be indigo, or violet. He was surprised by how bright they were. They were captivating. Before Heero knew what he was doing, he had leaned down and kissed him.

Duo's lips were a little rougher than Relena's but surprisingly soft. It wasn't Heero's first time kissing a guy. He did do some experimenting in college, but that was after several glasses of beer to bring up the courage. He also fooled around a little, but it ended after he graduated, started working for Sanq &amp; Sons, and started dating Relena.

He was surprised when Duo started kissing him back. He had been too used to kissing girl that he had forgotten what it felt like to be kissed by a man. It was slightly rough and forceful, and that was how Heero liked it, but also tender. He barely registered the moan that slipped from his mouth.

As suddenly as it started, Duo pushed him away. That when reality hit him. He had just kissed Duo, a man, and he was going to New York to see Relena, his girlfriend. What was worse was that he enjoyed it!

"Oh God," said Duo. "I'm sorry."

Heero blinked in surprise. Duo's the one apologizing? It should be Heero. He was the one who initiated the kiss, so he should be aplogizing.

"No, I'm sorry." he said. "I should never have..."

"Let's just forget about it," said Duo. He packed everything away and turned back toward the bedroom. "Come on. We've got a long drive tomorrow."

Heero watched Duo pack up his bag and get ready for bed, confused on what had just happened. Was it really spur of the moment? A one-off? Heero didn't know because he never did anything like this before. In college he only had a couple girlfriends and fooled around with guys. He had never kissed someone he knew almost nothing about.

Deciding to think on it, Heero got ready to bed and slid into the second bed. Duo was facing away from him with the blankets nearly up to his neck.

"Good night, Duo," he said. He turned off the bedside lamp.

"Night, Heero."

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next morning Heero woke up with the kiss still going through his head. It was a lot different from the kisses he got from Relena. Not different as unfamiliar, just different.

Relena didn't like hard kisses, always complained that it bruised her lips. If there was a small bruise anywhere on her body, she'd complain about the amount of make-up and the time it would take for the photographer to touch it up on the computer, so Heero was always real careful on not holding her too tight. She always says her body is the way she makes her money, so she had to be careful, which meant Heero had to be careful.

Speaking of Relena, she hadn't called him at all in the entire time she had been gone, which was strange. Usually she would be calling once or twice a day to check on him, but she hadn't call him once. It wasn't that he was worried. It was just strange.

Since Duo was in the shower, he felt he could safely call her without interruptions. Picking up his phone, he dialed Relena's number and heard it ring before it went to voicemail.

"Hello, this is Relena Peacecraft. I can't come to the phone right now, so leave a message at the beep."

The phone beeped. Heero took a deep breathe and spoke.

"Hello, Relena, it's Heero. I was just wondering how you were doing. I haven't heard from you for a while. I hope your shoots doing okay and to hear from you soon. Bye."

He hung up just as Duo walked out with a towel around his neck and another drying his hair. He wore just a pair of blue jeans. Heero gulped at seeing Duo's sculpted chest. He stopped drying his hair and let it hang loose, flowing down to his hips. Heero's breathe caught in his throat. Michaelangelo would have a field day with this guy.

Duo turned to glance at him and Heero quickly looked away.

"The girlfriend?" asked Duo. Heero looked at him in confusion and Duo nodded to the phone in Heero's hand. "What did she say?"

"Nothing. Voicemail," said Heero. "She'll call back soon."

"When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"The day before I left," said Heero.

"And she hasn't called you?"

Heero turned to look at Duo that said "Leave it alone", but the brunette ignored it.

"If you ask me, that's fate trying to tell you something."

"You believe in fate?" asked Heero

"I believe in three things," said Duo pulling on a shirt. "People are born, they live and they die. I don't know if God or the devil is real, but I do believe that something is pulling us toward something. That there's no such things as coincidence."

"Mother called it hituzen," said Heero. At Duo's confused look Heero translated. "Preordained." Heero paused for a moment in thought. "If you're not religious, then why do you wear that?"

He points to the cross around Duo's neck. Duo touches the necklace affectionately.

"This is to remind myself of who I am and where I come from," said Duo. "I never want to be ashamed of who I am."

Heero looked at Duo in silent awe as the other mand put on a shirt. This young man had lead a hard life, but it didn't drag him down or repress him. Meanwhile, Heero tried to be what everyone else wanted. Where did Duo find the strength?

"Duo, about last night..."

"You don't need to apologize," said Duo, braiding his hair. "I was at fault. It's been a while since I've had a partner and you are handsome." He gave Heero a sly smile before continuing. "I know you have a girlfriend and I respect that. I just hope she knows what she has before it's too late."

Before Heero could say anything, Duo picked up his bag.

"Let's go. We're still ten hours from New York."

Deciding that talking was out for the morning, Heero gathered his bags and followed Duo to the car. Pulling out of the hotel, they started back onto the road.

Duo was silent during the car ride, and it unnerved Heero. Instead of talking, Duo was reading a book on Poe anothology stories. The man was always talking, singing, or doing something with his voice, and for him to be silent didn't sit well with Heero. Instead, he was listening to the eighties rock station Duo found and _"Back in Black_" filtered through the speakers. The only time he spoke was to give directions to Heero.

As they got closer to Philadelphia, Heero got an idea that he hoped would put a smile back on his new friend's face. Turning toward the city he pulled into a gas station.

"Bathroom break," he said. "You can get out to stretch your legs if you want."

"Thanks," said Duo and he got out.

Walking into the station, both men headed toward the bathroom, but Heero hung back by the rack of brochures and maps and grabbed one of each. He headed toward the snack section and grabbed a few sugary items he noticed Duo prefered. He had just finished paying for them as Duo walked out of the bathroom.

"Ready?" asked Duo as Heero grabbed the bags.

"Yep," said Heero and they walked to the car. Duo pulled out their map and looked for theeasiet shortcut to their route.

"Just turn left and we'd get back on the road easily," he said.

"Actually we're going somewhere else instead," said Heero handing him the new map. "Just direct me to Seventh Street and I'll take it from there."

"Where are we going?" asked Duo. Heero gave him a smile.

"It's a secret."

"But what about New York?"

"I'm ahead of schedule," said Heero. "I can spare a few hours."

Still unsure of what Heero had in mind, Duo opened the map as Heero turned into the city streets. He lead Heero to Seventh Street even though traffic was terrible and they were stuck in a traffic jam for a half hour. Somehow, this didn't get both men down and they made the most of the trip. After an hour and a half, they finally made it to Seventh Street and Heero pulled them in front of an nineteenth century brownstone. Duo looked up at it in shock.

"This is..." he started.

"The house Edgar Allan Poe lived in while living in the city," said Heero. He turned to Duo with a smile. "I figured you'd like to see one of the sights."

He nearly fell when Duo jumped him with a hug and was taken aback by the blinding smile Duo gave him.

"Thank you, Heero," he said. "You don't know what this means to me."

"I think I do," said Heero smiling at Duo. "Come on. The last tour's about to begin."

They hurried into the house an immediately started the tour. Heero all but drowned out the tour guide as she lead the group around the house, pointing out the fine points of the rooms. The "authentic" desk that Poe worked when he wrote most of his work, including _"The Raven"_ and the _"The Tell-Tale Heart"_. The guide showed them to room Poe stayed in as well as his wife.

"I don't really get this guy," said Heero as the group looked around the room. "What kind of person marries his thirteen year old cousin."

"There have been a lot of speculation on that," said Duo. "From financial to romantic, but one thing was certain was that even though they both were devoted husband and wife, Virgina died a virgin."

Heero looked at him in shock. "So they never..."

Duo shook his head.

"Never, and even though he had other women clamoring for his attention, he never strayed from her. Even after her death, he never took another bride and went into a depression, evidence in his later works. He wasn't sexually attracted to women. Rather he used them as inspirations."

"Women inspired him to write about death and murder?" asked Heero.

"He was always a bit mad," said Duo.

"So, was he gay?"

Duo laughed. Heero smiled at hearing the sound. Duo's laughter always sounded heartfelt instead of the titters that Relena would make.

"Well, there's no written or photographic evidence," said Duo. "But that's a very good guess."

Heero smiled at Duo as he looked around in awe. He had the suspicion that Duo was a Poe fan by how creased the book he was reading was, and he snuck a peek inside while Duo was taking a shower. There had been a notation on the front page that read _"Happy Birthday, Duo From Helen 'It is happiness to wonder; it is happiness to dream'."_ He was glad to see his suspicions were true.

Duo raised his camera and started snapping pictures, even taking a couple of Heero. Heero would have sooner avoided it, he never liked having his picture taken, but he let the brunette take them. In what felt like a few minutes, but was actually an hour, the guide lead them back to the shop and the tourists began looking at souvenirs.

Heero looked around. He was shocked to see how much stuff was dedicated to one man. Books, t-shirts, posters, the shelves were endless. Heero walked from shelf to shelf, looking at each item but not planning on buying anything while Duo flittered from place to place, looking for the perfect souvenir.

"Heero!" Heero looked up to see Duo running toward him with a small souvenir bag. "I got us something."

"Duo, you didn't have to," said Heero but Duo waved him off.

"Don't be silly. We can't go to a historic site and not get a souvenir. Here."

Reaching into the bag, he pulled out two identical keychains. One side had Poe's face on it and the other had _The Raven_ written side by side. The gesture was so simple but affectionate at the same time. He smiled at Duo appreciatively.

"Thanks, Duo," he said. "It's really cool."

Duo smiled at Heero and turned to leave. Heero took out his key ring and slide his new keychain on before following Duo out.

Outside a few tourists were mingling with each other. Duo and Heero hung back from the others, Duo watching two men hold hands as they speak to two elderly ladies.

"His name was Alex." Heero looked at Duo curiously before Duo continued. "We met in college. I had already finished my culinary degree and was studying business management because I wanted to open my own Creole restaurant. He was taking Accounting. We graduated together and opened our own establishment.

"For the first couple of years, everything was great. Our restaurant was a hit, Alex had proposed and I thought we'd spend the rest of our lives together. We barely fought, and I guess that should have been my first clue.

"Six weeks before the wedding, Alex disappear and my checks began to bounce. He completely cleaned out my accounts, business and personal. He even got into my trust fund that my parents left me. My family have owned a brewing company since they settled in Alabama in the 1800s. You might have heard of it. Reaper's Brew."

Heero nodded. It was a very popular beer in the south and rarely found in California but he had tried a bottle once and found it was very good.

"I was forced to close my restaurant," continued Duo. "I couldn't pay for anything. My family tried to help, but after what Alex did, I didn't want to risk losing their money as well."

"What happened to him," asked Heero.

"He's in jail for theft, fraud and a list of other charges. Not that it mattered. He hid the money so well that nobody but him could find it. I lost everything." He paused before turning back to Heero. "You remember when I asked you what you would grab in a fire if you had thirty seconds?"

Heero nodded. He was still surprised by the question and still didn't know how to answer it.

"Mine would be this." He held up his hand to show a silver wedding band with Celtic designs on it. "This had been in my family for generations, probably over two hundred years. I gave it to Alex on the day he proposed to me. After he disappeared, a friend of mine found it in a pawn shop. Shows how much I meant to him. So I decided to pack up and head on the road, and here I am today."

Heero was silent as he studied the man in front of him. Duo had trusted the wrong person and lost everything he valued. He lost his purpose in life and was now trying to find it again.

"You are an amazingly strong person, Duo," said Heero. Duo looked at him in surprise. "I mean it. Anybody else would have broke down and let it control their lives, but you continued to find yourself without him. That tells me what kind of person you are."

Duo smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks, Heero," he said.

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

That night, the only bed available was a king size. Both Heero and Duo looked at the bed in confusion before Duo taking a pillow and the top blanket.

"What are you doing," asked Heero.

"Sleeping on the floor," said Duo. "Don't worry, I've slept in worse. Carpet's actually comfy."

"You're not sleeping on the floor. The bed is big enough. We'll make do."

Duo looked nervously between the bed and Heero. Heero could practically hear the gears turning in the brunet's mind.

"We'll put a pillow between us," he said. "That way we each will have a side."

"Uh, okay," said Duo.

They placed a pillow in the middle of the bed and prepared to retire. Heero took the first shower and read a bit of Duo's book while he waited for Duo to finish his. The ringing from his phone startled him and he answered it without looking at the caller I.D.

"Yuy," he said.

"Is that any way to speak to your girlfriend, Heero?"

Heero nearly dropped his phone at the sound of Relena's voice.

"Relena, how is the shoot going?" he asked.

"Long and boring," she said. "We're in Paris now. They want us to do a shoot before Fashion Week."

Heero frowned in confusion.

"Paris? But I thought you were in New York."

"We were, until last night. I'm so sorry for not calling this whole time, but we've been swamped. Everyone here is completely incompitent. We've had to replace the hairdresser three times and the camera man twice. Nobody can get anything right."

Exasperated, Heero leaned his arm against his knee as he spoke into the phone. He had been having a good day and Relena's complaints had thrown his good mood out the window. The time he spent with Duo showed Heero that he didn't spent enough time enjoying himself. He thought he was content with the life he lived in California; going to work, having beers with Wufei and coming home after the occasional date with Relena, but spending the day with Duo made him realize that he could do more. He wondered is Relena wanted the same.

"Relena, why didn't you tell me you were leaving for New York that day?" he asked.

"I had a shoot scheduled," said Relena. "It was sudden but I had to take it. You know my work is important to me. I have to get as much as I can in before I become too old. Thirty is just around the corner."

Heero wanted to scoff. She was only twenty-four. She wasn't exactly getting any wrinkles or sprouting a grey hair, not with the way she keeps using anti-aging cream or the dyes she puts in her hair.

"Aren't I important?" he asked.

"Of course you are, Heero, but you can take care of yourself. You've never needed anyone to help you. You'll be fine." A voice was heard in the background. "Okay! I'm sorry, Heero, but I have to go."

"Relena..."

"See you in a week!"

She hung up. Heero lower his phone and looked at the carpet. He couldn't understand Relena's sudden erratic behavior. Usually she was more than happy to tell him what she was doing or if there had been a change in plans, but lately she seems to tell him last minute. Could something more be going on?

He heard the door open and turned to see Duo walk out in sweatpants and a towel around his neck, towel drying his long hair. Heero had a sudden urge to touch Duo's hair. Was it as soft as it looked? He knew Duo used strawberry shampoo from how the man smelt in the car. Strawberries and Irish Spring.

Heero had always found men with long hair attractive. Case in point, Zechs. Before he and Relena had started dating, Heero had immediately found the older man attractive when they had first met at a Sanq &amp; Sons party at the Peacecraft Estate. Fortunately, Zechs was happily married to his wife Lucrezia Noin, who Heero got along with very well. He and Zechs were also very good friends and got together every time they were invited to a benefit together.

Now he watched as Duo towel dried his hair and left it undone to dry. He learned in the last couple of days spending with Duo, that Duo never slept with wet hair and always tied it in a ponytail before going to bed. He said it was so that he didn't get any split ends and less tangles. All Heero knew was that it made Duo look sexier.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Duoas he picked up his brush and started brushing his hair.

"Relena," he said putting his phone away. "She said the shoot was going to go on a few more days."

"Well, that's good isn't it?" said Duo. "Give you more time, right?"

"Yeah," said Heero, trying to keep his uneasiness from his voice. He didn't technically lie. Relena did imply that the shooting would take longer, but what was he supposed to do now for a week? His entire schedule revolved around her being in New York, and now she wasn't. He was a few hours away from New York with no girlfriend to greet him.

"You don't sounds too enthusiastic about it," said Duo.

"I guess I'm just tired," said Heero.

There was a pause for a minute before Duo spoke again.

"Heero, are you sure it's okay to share a bed?" asked Duo apprehensively. Heero gave hims a smirk.

"Duo, it may surprise you, but you're not the first guy I shared a bed with, nor the first one I kissed." Duo looked at him in surprise. "College."

Duo laughed.

"I remember those days," he said. "So, have you ever gone all the way?"

Heero shook his head.

"No," he said. "I never let it get that far. I didn't trust any of the guys there. Most just wanted to get into my pants or try and use me to pass tests."

Duo nodded. "Good idea. Your first time should be with someone you trust, or else it won't be as special."

Heero chuckled softly. "Expierence?"

"College," said Duo and both laughed.

"We better get to bed," said Heero. "Long drive tomorrow."

"Right," said Duo.

Heero turned off the light and got into bed. After a minute, he felt Duo get into bed next to him. It took a long time until Heero fell asleep.

XXXXXX

The next morning, Heero sat at his computer going through a few files before hitting the road. He had given the cases he had been currently working on to Wufei before he left. He trusted Wufei to do a competent job in completing the cases while he was a away. Duo was checking his voice messages on the bed because he said he hadn't checked them in a couple of days.

Heero had surprisingly slept soundly that night, despite waking up wrapped around Duo. Luckily, he managed to disentangle himself without waking the other man and started getting ready to head off. Duo woke not long after and started checking his emails and messages.

He was knocked out of his revery when he heard a clatter behind him and turned to see Duo sitting stock still on the bed, the phone at his feet. Heero got up and went to his side.

"Duo, what's wrong?" he asked.

"My uncle," said Duo softly. "He had a heart attack. He's in the hospital."

Heero looked at Duo in shock for a moment. He remembered Duo's story on how his uncle was the only father he ever knew and how much the man had stood by Duo through everything. The only thing Heero remembered about his father was that he was never around, and then vanished from Heero's life when Heero was fifteen. Heero didn't know anything about the bond between father and son, but by the look on Duo's face, he knew that the other man wished more than anything to be by his uncle's side.

Heero shut down his computer and put it away.

"Pack up," said Heero. "We're heading off."

"I can't, Heero," said Duo, stuttering. "I have to go to Alabama. I have to..."

"That's where we're going." Heero turned to Duo and smirked. "We're taking you home."

Duo stared at him, mouth agaped. "But, what about New York?"

Heero stopped packing as he remembered his conversation with Relena the night before. Sighing, he turned to Duo with a sad smile.

"She's in Paris," he said. "She'll be there for a week."

"Oh, geez, Heero, I'm sorry," said Duo sincerely. Heero shrugged.

"It's okay," he said. "It actually gives me more time to think."

"About what?" asked Duo.

"What I want to do with my life. Figure out what I want."

Duo looked at him in surprise at first and then smiled.

"Thanks, Heero," he said. "I-I don't think I can do this alone."

"You're not alone, Duo," said Heero placing a comforting hand on the man's arm.

He pulled Duo into his arms and held him. He was surprised by how easily Duo fit into him. The man almost seemed to have been molded to his physique. If Heero believed in fate, he would have thought that Duo was meant for him.

"He'll be okay," said Heero. "I'm sure of it."

Duo nodded, his face against Heero's shoulder. He could feel wet spots on his shoulder and had no doubt that Duo was crying. Heero didn't say a word. He just held Duo until the other man calmed down a few minutes later. When he was done, Duo slowly pulled away with a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Heero," he said.

"No problem," said Heero. "You better finish getting ready."

Duo nodded and finished getting dressed. He put on a light blue shirt and picked up his brush to straighten his hair. He brushed a few strokes before his brush got snagged on a tangle.

"Here," said Heero.

He walked over to sit behind Duo and carefully disentangled the other man's hair before brushing the chestnut locks. It was as silky as Heero suspected. He carefully brushed the strands and seperated the locks to braid. He learned how to care for long hair from the little girls in the orphanage. They always came to him because he didn't pull or yank their hair while he brushed and braided it. He never did Relena's hair in the whole time they were going out. She prefered to have her hair done by her hair dressers, few and far between they were. While Relena's hair was soft, it didn't have to same texture as Duo's.

"You're good at this," said Duo as Heero finished his hair. "Where did you learn to braid hair?"

"Babysitting," said Heero as he got up and picked up his carry-on. Five minutes later, both men were in the car and back on the road heading south.

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Heero and Duo spent the entire day driving from Pennsylvania to Alabama. The radio played but neither men spoke a word. Heero could easily see Duo's uneasiness the nearer they got to Alabama. They put aside the map and turned on Heero's GPS to get to Alabama quicker. At some point in their journey, Heero reached over and took Duo's hand. Duo gripped it tightly, but loose enough to not hurt the other man.

Throughout the ride, Duo was impossibly quiet. Heero had grown used to Duo's constant chatter, be it talking, reading or singing, to hear Duo not saying anything was uneasy.

Heero guessed he shouldn't have been surprised by Duo's sudden silence. Duo obviously clearly loved his uncle as any father figure. Heero's own father wasn't a very good role model. He had always been gone, leaving Heero into the care of his uncle Jay, until when Heero was fifteen and he never came back. Not a month later, Jay left Heero and he had been in the foster care system ever since. Not that Heero cared. Jay left Heero alone most of the time and never helped whenever Heero asked for it. He had never had a positive father figure. He supposed that was why he was so serious in almos t everything he does.

They were halfway through Kentucky before Heero made his first stop at a gas station. It also had a diner attatched to it. Other than needing gas, they had been on the road for five hours and knew that Duo would need to stretch his legs, if not use the restroom. Plus it was past lunch and all they had were the snacks Duo had bought the day before.

"What did we stop for," asked Duo as Heero parked the car by a gas pump.

"Well, for one, we need gas," said Heero. "And two, bathroom break, leg stretch, food, anything else we might think of."

"But, what about my dad," asked Duo.

"Don't worry, if he gets worse, you know that your cousin will call you. And besides, what would he say if you crashed because your driver got a cramp?"

For the first time since the new about his uncle, Duo laughed. It was only a chuckle, but it lifted Heero's spirits and hoped it did with Duo.

"Fine, but twenty minutes, no more," he said and walked toward the station.

Heero started putting gas in the car. Ten minutes later, Duo walked out with a bag that smelled of hamburgers and french fries and a case of cold soda. By then Heero had finished filling up the tank and had parked in front of the building. Heero went into the station for his own bathroom break and came back outside to see Duo in the driver's seat.

"I'm driving," he said in a no questions ask tone.

Heero tossed him the keys and got in the passenger side. He ate the sandwich Duo got him as Duo drove. Once again, both rode in deafening silence with only the radio playing. They stopped for gas once more before they got into Alabama, Duo still driving. Heero took a quick look at the sign as they passed it by. Huntsville, Alabama. It was a nice looking town. Heero could really see Duo growing up here. He wondered where Duo's old restaurant was. He could see Duo behind a stove cooking up a feast for his friends and family. One of the previous topics during their travels had been food and Heero remembered hearing the passion and excitement behind Duo's voice, and none of the food places they stopped at to eat had been a fast food place. Each one had been a fresh food establishment where they would wait ten to twenty minutes for food and each serving was delicious. Duo had an eye for food.

As Heero sat thinking, he was surprised to see them pull up in the hospital parking lot. He opened the door and when he didn't hear the driver's side open. He turned to see Duo frozen in his seat, eyes staring up at the building in fear. Heero reached over and placed a hand on one of Duo's that still clutched the wheel. Duo turned to look at Heero, eyes still in fear.

"He's fine, Duo," he said. "I know it."

"Come in with me," Duo pleaded. Heero nodded.

"Not going anywhere."

Duo smiled at him gratefully before gettingout of the car. Heero followed a step behind, but when Duo reached behind himself, Heero immediately took the other man's hand. They walked into the hospital side-by-side and walked to the front desk.

"Eric Maxwell," said Duo, his voice shaking but strong. "He came in because of a heart attack a couple days ago."

"Relation?" asked the nurse, typing on the computer.

"I'm his son."

"ICU room 213," said the nurse.

"Thank you," said Duo.

They walked down the hall until they came to the right room, and was surprised to find people already inside. Two women and three men stood in various corners of the room around an elderly man that lay on the bed. One woman looked to be in her late thirties and next to her was a man approximately the same age, the other woman had greying blonde hair, grey conservative clothes and seemed to be reading a book on religion. The two men looked like they had stepped out of a biker bar, both wearing biker jackets, black jeans and rock band logo shirts. One had red hair with a spike eyebrow stud and silver earring on his right ear and was chewing on a toothpcik, and the other had brown hair with a silver ring on his left ear. Both were handsome stood slightly apart from the rest of the group.

"Duo!" said the brunette in both shock and glee. She ran up and hugged Duo tightly. "I'm so glad you came. I didn't know if you were coming."

"I'm sorry, Helen," said Duo hugging her back. "I should have been here."

"Nonsense," said Helen letting him go, but kept a hand on his arm. "You couldn't have known this would happen, and Dad supported your leaving. Have you found what you were looking for?"

"Not yet," said Duo glancing at Heero before turning his gaze back to Helen, "but I'm getting there. Has he woken up yet?"

Helen shook her head.

"No, he just got out of surgery and they doctors say he should rest. You're in luck. Visiting hours are almost over and I'm glad you could make it."

"Me too," said Duo.

"Eric, you're being rude," said the second woman, glaring at Duo. "Who's your...friend?"

"Oh, everyone, this is Heero," said Duo. "He picked me up and helped me get here. Heero, this is Helen, her husband, Duane, my cousin Solo, and I'm guessing his boyfriend Lee, and my aunt Sophie."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Heero.

Duo walked over to the bed as Helen walked up and shook Heero's hand and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you for bringing my brother here," she said. "I hope it wasn't too much out of your way."

"It wasn't. I was heading for New York for somethin, but it got cancelled. When Duo told me what happened, I knew I had to get him here."

"My father would say you were a godsend," said Helen. "And I believe that now too. Thank you, Heero."

"You're welcome."

Heero watched as Duo spoke softly to his uncle before walking over to Solo. He shook Lee's hand before speaking softly to both men and they laughed softly. The whole time, Sophie gave them disapproving looks before turning her gaze to Heero and gave him a scrutinizing look. Heero suddenly felt very out of place. Here he was in a roomful of family members and he wasn't one of them.

"Can you tell Duo that I'm outside," he said to Helen.

"Are you leaving," asked Helen. She sounded a little worried, which surprised Heero, and he shook his head.

"No, I just have a phone call I have to make. I'll be right back."

Helen nodded and she walked over to her husband who had joined the conversation between the three young men. Sophie still gave them scrutinizing looks over the top of her book and Heero could feel her penetrating gaze on his back as he walked out. As he walked out of the hospital, he pulled out his phone and dialed Wufei. He realized that he hadn't called Wufei since he had set out on this endeavor and wanted to update his friend on what was happening.

_"Hello?"_said Wufei.

"It's me," said Heero.

_"About time you called, Yuy. Are you in New York yet?"_

"No. In fact, there's been a change in plans."

_"What do you mean?"_

Heero went into the long tale of meeting Duo, Relena's sudden Parisian trip and his current destination. Wufei listened with rapt attention until Heero came to the end.

_"Sounds like you've had the adventure," _said Wufei when Heero was done.

"Yeah, but driving has given me time to think. About my relationship with Relena and what we want in life. I don't really think we want the same things. She left without telling me, and now she's in Paris. Why would she do something like that?"

_ "I can't answer that, Yuy, but you know I'll stand by you with whatever decision you make."_

"I know," said Heero. "I'm going to stay here a few more days. Duo could use a friend."

_ "I understand, Yuy. I'm sure Meilin will make your favorite when you get back. You know she looks for any excuse to have you over for dinner."_

"Tell her thank you. Bye."

_"Bye."_

Heero hung up and turned to go back to into the hospital, and paused in surprise when he saw Solo walking toward him.

"You smoke?" he asked holding out a pack.

Heero shook his head. Solo shrugged and light one up. They were silent for a bit before Solo spoke.

"Was that your boyfriend on the phone?" asked Solo. Heero looked in surprise before shaking his head.

"No, a friend. He's married."

Solo shrugged and took a drag from his cigarette. They were silent again for a minute before Solo spoke again.

"I supposed Duo told you a bit about what happened?" he said. Heero nodded.

"A bit."

Solo scoffed a laugh.

"I knew it. Duo's a lot of things, but an open book isn't one of them."

Heero looked at him in surprise.

"Then how did you know he told me?"

"By the way you two act. Awfully close for two people who have just met."

Heero glared at him. He didn't like being called a liar, and for some reason, he didn't like Duo being called a liar.

"It's the truth," he said.

"I know," said Solo with a smile. "Duo's a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them. He has had too many people lie to him, so he doesn't lie to anyone. He's been like that since he was a kid." He laughs. "It's funny. Kid never lies, and usually it's like trying to pry open a vault to get him to talk about his past or feelings, but with you..."

He turns to Heero and gives him a studious look.

"With you, he's an open book. Why?"

Heero thought about that. Duo had told him a lot about himself since they met two days ago. Why was Duo so open to him? Was it because they were alike? Both of them on a journey to find something that could turn their lives toward where it was supposed to go. Was that why they became so close in such a short amount of time.

"I never did like Alex," said Solo. "He always acted nice and innocent, but something was off about him. Always acting questions about Duo. Personal questions like if he had any pets or what his mother's maiden name was. When I told Duo about it, he said that Alex was probably getting him something for his birthday or anniversary, but I never bought it."

"Why?" asked Hero.

"I'm a cop. It's my job to be suspicious, especially when it comes to Duo. He's like a brother to me. I don't want him to get hurt, again."

"And Lee?"

"Lawyer."

Heero laughed. He didn't see either of them as a cop or a lawyer, but what did he know on first impressions. Anyone looking at him or Wufei would think they were push over suits, but no one would think that they both had multiple blackbelts. Or that Heero was a boxing champion.

"When I first met Alex, I knew the bastard was full of shit," said Solo. "Pardon my language."

Heero just waved it off.

"I'm a lawyer," he said. "I've heard it all."

Solo laughed.

"Should talk to Lee. You can swap stories," he said. "I wasn't around much at the time. Mommy-dearest didn't want anything to do with me and so she left me out of a lot of family affairs, but Helen kept me up to date. When it all went down, I was doing a twenty hour shift in Shreveport. I don't need to tell you how fast I got here."

Heero could hazard a guess. He saw how close the family was, except for aunt Sophie, and didn't doubt that he would have been on the first plane, train or bus, or more likely bike, toward Alabama.

"What did you do?" asked Heero.

"I hunted the fucker down, beat the shit out of him and arrested him."

Heero nodded satisfactory. He had no doubt Solo would do that after minutes of meeting him. Solo grounded the butt of his cigarette into the sidewalk before picking it up and throwing it in a nearby trashcan.

"Come on," he said. "They'll be wondering where we are by now. Visitng hours are almost done."

Nodding, Heero walked back into the hospital with Solo.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After visiting hours ended everyone went to their vehicles. Sophie immediately left in her old 1999 Volkswagon while everyone else loitered around Helen's car, for which Heero was grateful. He didn't like the looks Sophie was giving him, Duo, Solo and Lee. Like they were something disgusting she stepped on and wanted to wipe off her shoe. Helen, Duane and Lee welcomed him as a member of the family while Solo kept an eye on him. Something that didn't surprise Heero in the least.

"So, Heero, where are you staying?" asked Helen

Heero looked surprised for a moment before answering.

"Oh, actually, I was just going to rent a hotel room..." he started before Helen interrupted him.

"Nonsense, you'll be staying with us," she said. "There's plenty of room at the house."

"I couldn't..."

Duo pulled Heero over to whisper in his ear.

"I wouldn't try arguing. She'd get her way in the end."

Heero decided to take the advice and smiled gratefully to Helen.

"Thank you," he said. "I would love to stay with you."

"Great!" said Helen happily clapping her hands. "Duo knows the way. You'll take the second guest room. Solo and Lee are staying in the other."

"Of course," said Heero.

Helen and Duane went to their car while Solo and Lee went to their bikes and they drove off. Heero turned to Duo with a humorous smile.

"Your family is...interesting," he said.

"Thanks," said Duo taking it as a compliment. "And I'm sorry about Aunt Sophie in advance."

"Why?"

"Because every time I bring a guy home, no matter if he's gay or not, she immediately assumes he's my boyfriend and starts her 'burn in the fires of hell' speech. She did that to my best friend, Quatre, and he's been in a serious relationship since high school. We've never even dated."

"Why is she like that?" asked Heero as they got into the car. Duo started the car and drove down the street as he talked.

"She's seriously old school religion. No Halloween, no Christmas as you know it, not even presents. She spends the whole day at church from dawn till midnight. No meat at all during Lent, not just on Fridays, no swear or taking the Lord's name in vane and all she reads is religion books. I told you what happened when I first came out."

"Yes," said Heero.

"Ever since then, she's been trying to convert me to hetero. At social functions, she'd push woman after woman at me, all God fearing of course. But a lot of woman are understanding nowadays and left me alone after the functions. She didn't even like that I opened a restaurant. She thought I should go into the brewery like my dad, but I'm perfectly happy with Helen taking it over."

"Sounds tough."

Duo smirked as he turned to glance at Heero.

"I've learned to ignore her," he said.

Heero chuckled and the rest of the trip was in the comfortable silence, in the comfort that had eluded them for the last few hours, and listened to the local eighties station as they drove. They past by the town and went into the countryside.

Heero watched as they pasted farms and corn fields. He found it strange that he found a sort of contentment with driving down the road with a person beside him in complete California, he was so used to the sounds and bustle of the city. Over the past couple of days, the silence of the country had been uneasy at first, but the quiet had a strange lulling to it, especially when with another person.

Relena didn't much care for the quiet life. Once when her brother invited them to a wooden retreat, she complained on how disgusting nature was to city life. She said that it was unhygenic and dirty, but if you thought about it, the country was actually cleaner than the city. In the city, everyone was cramped together, so virus and colds were easier to spread, but in the country, everyone didn't catch it as quick or had a stronger immune system because of all the time working otuside. Heero actually liked the country. It wasn't as fast paced as the city, and the sky and air were clear. He could see himself living in the country sometime in the future.

Heero was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice where they were until they had slowed down. He looked up to see that they were pulling up to an 1800s colonial manor. It was in perfect condition though Heero didn't doubt there would be modern appliances inside. A gate seperated the drive from the street and the front drive was completely circular and went back to the road, except for the small drive that veered to the back. Flowers and bushes decorated the lawn. It was like stepping back in time.

"Amazing, isn't it," said Duo. "It's been in our family since we settled here. Our family always kept it in as mint condition as possible."

"It's beautiful," said Heero.

Duo's smile grew as he parked in front of the house. They parked and got out as Helen and Duane walked out of the house to greet them.

"Solo and Lee are set up in their room," said Helen. "Duo, your room's just how you left it."

"Thanks, Helen," said Duo smiling. "How's the kitchen?"

Helen laughed.

"Barely five minutes home and he already can't wait to get into the kitchen," she said. "It's stocked. Everything's ready for your culinary magic."

"Thanks," said Duo again and Helen turned to Heero.

"There's a guest room next to Duo's for you," she said. "If you need anything, just let us know."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, thank you," said Heero with a grateful smile and followed Duo inside.

The inside was as carefully decorated as the front. He wasn't surprised when he found pictures of the family and saw a younger version of Duo, braid and all.

"Cute kid," said Heero with a smirk toward Duo. Duo looked at the picture and laughed.

"Yeah, can't tell you how many times Aunt Sophie came at me with a pair of shears. Nearly got a close once, and I let her know exactly what I thought about her and her opinions. She disapproved of me evern more after that."

Heero chuckled. He could see a younger version of Duo telling the stiff old lady off. After only a few days with Duo, Heero knew how much Duo prized his hair. He was sure Duo had to fight more than one battle to keep it and Heero was glad that he had, judging by all the pictures around the house.

"The living room is over there and the kitchen is there," said Duo. "Outback we have a garden and porch deck for when we want to get together and grill."

"Something I'm sure you do often," said Heero with a teasing smirk. Duo laughed.

"You have no idea," he said "Come on, 'Ro. I'll show you to your room."

Heero didn't call Duo on the shortening of his name. He had a feeling it was how Duo showed affection to those he liked. Duo lead him up the stairs and toward the bedrooms.

"Bathroom's right there," said Duo. "There are three in the house. One downstairs, one upstairs and one in the master bedroom where Helen and Duane are. The rest of the rooms are mostly guest rooms or media room and library. There's a sun room and pool outback, but since it's winter, the pool's been drained so we won't be taking a dip any time soon."

"Understandable," said Heero.

"Here's your room."

Duo opened a door, and Heero looked into the room. The wall was antique white, a good color to use in any home, and the carpet was a light brown beige. The queen size bed in the middle of the room had a nice sky blue bedspread and soft pillows in white pillowcases. Two nightstands were placed on either side of the bed and a closet was set next to the single window. A desk and a dresser was placed in the corners of the room and lanscape pictures hung on the walls. There were some classical books set on the dresser from Shakespeare to Sir Arthur Connan Doyle. Heero wasn't expecting anything grand, and this was eactly what he was expecting.

"This is nice," he said turning back to Duo. "Thank you."

Duo smiled and Heero saw something in Duo's eyes before it disappeared.

"No problem," he said. "I'm just across the hall, second door on the left. I'll let you get settled in and I'll start on dinner."

"I can't wait to try your cooking."

Duo blushed and turned away.

"I'll be in the kitchen," said Duo and hurried out of the room.

Heero wondered why Duo was suddenly so shy. They had spent several days together and had opened up about each other, so there wasn't much to be shy over. Could it be that Duo was attracted to him? Heero found Duo attracted, he wouldn't lie about that, but he wouldn't cheat on Relena. Because their relationship wasn't publishized, a lot of tabloids write about every man Relena went to movie premiers, galleries, and such with. They were all male colleagues that Heero had met previously and liked. He never believed the gossip the papers were saying over each man Relena associates with. He never had reason to suspect anything because Relena called him daily whenever she was away, until recently. He still wondered why Relena hadn't told him about her rescheduling in Paris.

After placing his few clothes into away, he walked downstairs and went toward the kitchen already he could hear the sounds of someone cooking and found Duo chopping sausages on a red chopping block on a counter in the middle of the kitchen. Other spices were set on the counter in clear bowls and some fat was melting in a pan over a fire. Duo looked up as Heero walked in.

"Hey!" he said happily. "Glad you found it. I was just getting started on supper."

"Little late for supper," said Heero walking up to the counter.

"Just something easy," said Duo. "Just enough to fill the stomach but light enough to not stop you from falling asleep."

"Somehow, with you, nothing is ever easy."

Duo laughed.

"Oh, just wait until Thanksgiving," he said. "Then you'll see what I'm capable of."

Heero didn't miss the hopeful tone in Duo's voice, nor the phrasing of his sentence. He would like nothing more than to be with Duo during Thanksgiving. He would have no doubt the entire family would have a hand in it. They seem like the type of people who do things their own way. Heero didn't see a single maid or butler in the house even though they had enough money to hire them. The two Thanksgivings and Christmases he spent with Relena and her family, the entire place and meal was done by the servants while the family and guests mingled, discussing clients and politics. It felt less like a holiday and more like a business function.

"Can I help?" he asked walking up to the counter.

"Sure," said Duo setting the knife down. "You can cut up the okra. Use that green cutting board, okay? That one's for veggies."

"Okay."

Heero picked up the the green cutting boards and set it in front of him with an okra stalk on top. As Duo put the sausage in the pan. The fat sizzled as the meat hit the pan. He reached over to pick up the knife Duo had discard. Duo turned around and exclaimed when he saw Heero reached for the knife.

"Don't!" he said slapping Heero's hand away.

"What?" asked Heero confused. Duo pointed a finger at him and wagged it sternly.

"Never use a knife that has cut meat to cut vegetables," he said. "Germs are the most silent and deadly killers in the world. Always use a different knife when cutting vegetables."

"Sorry," said Heero, sincerely. He never really cut meat, too used to buying frozen dinners or take out. He could cook basic pasta but he never had to cut the meat to cook it.

"Sorry," said Duo with a sigh. "I kind of take over when I'm in a kitchen. Proper cuisine etiquette is important to me. Cooking isn't just cutting up vegetables and meat and throwing it into the frying pan. It's an art. It's myself on the plate. I put all my thoughts and feeling into whatever I cook. Exposing myself. When I feel horrible, the dish is horrible, but when I'm happy, the dish will be delicious. It's like letting a stranger in your head just for a second. And you allow them to feel what you're feeling. You know?"

"Yeah, I do," said Heero. "Everyone has a different way of expressing themselves, and this is yours."

Duo smiled and pulled a new knife from the rack. He handed it handle first to Heero.

"Let's get cooking," he said.

Smiling, Heero took the knife and started chopping.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next day, Heero followed Duo into the hospital toward his uncle's room. The doctor said that Eric could return home that day, but had to stay to a strict regime in order to prevent a second heart attack. He gave Duo a strict diet that Eric had to abide by to lower his cholestral and Duo was more than up to the task of keeping his uncle healthy.

Heero was glad to hear that Eric was doing better. Granted he had only meet the man for almost ten seconds and he was unconcious the whole time, but with how Duo and his family spoke about him, made him sound like a great guy. He was very understanding with Duo and Solo's life choices and accepts them without question. He was the father figure Duo had needed his whole life and a soon-to-be grandfather, something they found out at dinner the night before.

When Duo heard the news from Helen, he nearly spat out his soup.

"Are you serious?!" he asked in shock and glee.

Helen giggled and nodded.

"Yes, we're finally pregnant," she said, smiling happily to Duane.

"Oh my God, that's amazing." Duo got up and hugged his cousin. "When are you due?"

"Oh, not for a few months," said Helen. "Plenty of time to get ready."

The conversation turned to childhood memories, some of which were embarressing to Duo but earned a laugh from the audience. That and combined with the amazing food Duo made, the experience was homey, something Heero had never had. The only person he had familial connection to was Wufei, and even that was only because of years of friendship.

Heero had learned quickly that Duo was a god in the kitchen. The soup was the perfect balance of taste and tecture. He even added leftover chicken from a previous dinner and a cupful of rice. Heero knew he would never be able to recreate what Duo had made. He had no doubt that Duo could tale just two ingredients and serve it seven ways.

Apart from Heero's almost mishap, preparations for dinner went off without a hitch. Watching Duo work in the kitchen was a sight to behold. He barely measured as he cut up vegetables and spices before throwing it in the pot and made rrolls from scratch. His knifework was nearly machine fast and precise. Everything seemed to fade away as Duo worked, like his whole concentration was on cooking the soup and everything around him disappeared.

Heero had been known to get caught up in his work, but not in the way Duo had. The man was really passionate about his food and Heero couldn't understand why he had walked away from it. Even with a couple years out of practice, the man still had the magic touch in the kitchen. It was a shame he threw it away.

Now he stood outside in the hallway waiting for Duo to walk out with Helen and his uncle. Duane had work to do in the brewery and Solo and Lee were manning the grill at the house for a celebratory lunch on Eric's return. Duo had given them strict instructions on what to do and made the salad and side dishes before leaving to the hospital. The man was serious about food, even when he wasn't there to oversee its preperation.

He heard the sounds of a door opening and looked up to see Duo wheel Eric out on a wheelchair. Heero stood up straighter and cleared his throat nervously. He suddenly felt like a boy taking his date to prom and getting the third degree by the dad. He knew he shouldn't. He and Duo were nothing more than acquantances, maybe friends. So why did he feel so nervous?

"Uncle Eric, this is Heero Yuy, the guy I was telling you about," said Duo. "Heero, this is my uncle, Eric Maxwell."

"Duo's told me a lot about you, Father Maxwell," said Heero holding his hand to him. Eric took it with a grin.

"Please, call me Eric," he said. "Only members of my congregation call me 'father', family calls me 'uncle', and friends call me Eric."

"Please to meet you, Eric," said Heero.

"So I hear that we have you to thank for bringing Duo home to us," said Eric as they walked, or in Eric's case, wheeled, down the hallway.

"It was nothing," said Heero. "Just a coincidence."

"Oh my boy, nothing in this world is coincidence. God has a plan for everything. Everything happens for a reason."

"Uncle, I don't think your heart attack was part of God's plan," said Duo.

"Ever a skeptic, Duo," said Eric, "But yes, my heart attack was part of God's plan, just as Mr. Yuy was here. The Lord made sure you'd meet someone who'd get you home when you were needed. That was God's plan."

"Sure it was," said Duo as they left the hospital. "Wait here. I'll get the car."

He left and both men watched as Duo got Helen's SUV that they were borrowing to bring Eric home. When he was out of earshot, Eric turned to Heero.

"He was always a skeptic," said Eric. "Could never believe in something he couldn't see."

"I think he's mellowed out from what I've heard," said Heero. There was a slight pause before Heero spoke again. "I am surprised by one thing."

"And what is that?" asked Eric.

"How can a man of the clothe accept a homosexual so easily? Isn't it against what God teaches you?"

"On the contrary. It emphasizes what God teaches us. God does not make mistakes. He made Duo exactly as he intended. How can I deny my nephew of who he is when God made him as he intended to be? Plus, he's still Duo. It doesn't matter if he loves a man or a woman, he'll always be my nephew."

Heero nodded in understanding. Like Duo, he was a bit skeptical about religion. His logical mind couldn't grasp any of the miracles that pertained in the Bible. When Eric told about his acceptance of Duo, it made more sense than Relena's fashion sense.

"Now, tell me about yourself," said Eric. "Where were you going when you and Duo met?"

"New York," said Heero. "I was going to propose to my girlfriend for Valentine's day."

"And now? Alabama's a long way from New York."

"She's in Paris now. She just called me in France and said she'd be home in a week. I don't know what to do now. I left California to go to her, and yet she wants to be anywhere else but here. What does that say about us or our future?"

"When Duo left on his journey, I wondered if he was doing the right thing and I prayed that he would find whatever it was he was looking for." He turned to Heero. "I believe you're on the same journey. You're looking for something and don't know where to find it, but sometimes what you need has been right under your nose the whole time."

Heero looked at the man in surprise. What could he have meant by that? Did he mean that Heero already knew what he wanted or that he had yet to find it?

A week ago, Heero knew exactly what he wanted. He was going to propose to Relena, get married and have a happy family and be made partner. That had been what he wanted for as long as he could remember. A real family. Maybe he had been on the right track the whole time.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by Duo calling his name.

"Heero? Hey, you with me, man?" he asked. Heero blinked in surprise. He hadn't noticed Duo drive the car up or park it in front of the hospital entrance.

"Sorry, Duo," he said. "I was thinking."

"Looked more like you were torturing your brain," said Duo. "Come on. Let's head back."

Nodding, Heero followed Duo into the car. They drove back to the house to find it a bustle of activity. Everywhere he looked, people were setting up for what looked to be a party. A blonde haired man was talking to a black haired girl with a brown haired man standing next to him. The girl was the first to spot them as they rolled up and Duo got out.

"Duo!" she yelled, running up to Duo and hugged him with a flying leap. Duo laughed as he caught her and spun her around.

"Hilde, it's good to see you again," he said setting her down. He turned to the two men walking up to him with smiles. "Quatre, Trowa, hey."

"It's good to see you again, Duo," said Quatre.

"How was your trip?" asked Trowa.

"Enlightening," said Duo. His arm still around Hilde, turned to Heero and waved him over. "Heero, meet my friends."

Helen took Eric back inside to allow Heero to meet Duo's friends and Heero walked over with a smile.

"Heero, this is Hilde, the closest woman to a girlfriend I'll ever have, and Quatre Winner and his partner, and my sou-chef, Trowa Barton," said Duo. "Guys, this is Heero Yuy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Heero," said Quatre shaking Heero's hand. "I'm so glad Duo finally found someone after all this time."

"Oh, no, we're not together," said Duo and Heero at the same time. Heero knew he wasn't the only one blushing. Quatre gasped in embarressment.

"Heero gave me a ride here," said Duo. "He's been a great friend and is staying a while to help out."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Hilde cooed grinning at Duo. Duo's face flushed red before looking away. Heero briefly wondered why before turning to Hilde.

"It was the right thing to do," he said. "Duo's become a good friend and I want to make sure he's okay."

"Not a lot of people would do that," said Hilde. "Trust me, I know. I'm a bounty hunter and go after the worst. For someone to do that to a total stranger says something about a person."

"Thanks, Hilde."

"I'm so sorry," said Quatre. "I just assumed..."

"You spoke before thinking again, Quatre," said Trowa with an arm on the small of Quatre's back.

"It's just that I felt something between you two," said Quatre quietly in thought.

"Quatre Winner of Winner Construction?" asked Heero. He knew he had heard of Quatre's name before. When Sinq &amp; Sons heard the Winner Construction was planning to expand to the west coast, the firm immediately started preparing to win over representation of the company, and Heero had been put in charge.

Quatre nodded in surprise.

"Yes," he said.

Shocked, Heero turned to Duo.

"Duo, he's the second richest man in America, next to the Peacecrafts," he said. "He's an heir to an empire."

Duo laughed.

"I know," he said. "And we're school buddies. You know those boys Aunt Sophie accused me of seeing I told you about?"

Heero nodded and Duo pointed to Quatre and Trowa.

"Seriously?!" he said in shock.

Duo nodded.

"I, of course, am from a prosperous family," said Quatre. "I have more sisters than I care for and am the only son in the family, so when I came out was a family scandle. Trowa was the son of one of our construction workers. His father brought him there for a summer job. There was no way in any plausible scenerio where we'd actually meet."

"And we wouldn't have, if you hadn't watched you step on the scaffolding," said Trowa. "Apparently, one of the workers had cut corners and replaced the plywood with a lesser grade material, pocketing the leftover cash himself. We wouldn't have found out if Quatre had been watching his step and nearly fell five stories."

Quatre smiled up at his partner.

"Best day of my life was when he dove ten feet to grab my hand before I became a spot on the pavement," he said.

"How did you become a sou-chef?" asked Heero to Trowa.

"Well, growing up it was just my dad, sister Catherine and me," he said. "My father and sister were great. They did everything they could to give me a good life, but they couldn't cook anything that wasn't frozen or in a can, so I went to the library and copied recipes that didn't look too hard to make as soon as I could reach the stove. I quickly discovered a love for cooking and saved what money I could to go to culinary school."

"And since I was looking for a sou-chef, Quatre introduced us and the rest is history," said Duo. "How have you been, Trowa have you found a new job?"

Trowa and Quatre had identical looks of guilt.

"Uh, no, Duo," said Trowa. "It wasn't the same. I couldn't work with someone else after you left. I cook for Irene's catering business now."

Duo gaped and turned to Quatre who nodded. He turned back to Trowa.

"Oh God, Trowa, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to..."

Trowa waved his hand in dismissal.

"I don't blame you," he said. "You had something to do, and went off to do it. I can't fault you for that. Besides, Quatre's sister has kept me busy with her catering business. Although I do miss working with you."

"I miss working too," said Duo forlornly. Heero could see how much Duo missed cooking, both now and from the night before. Cooking was like breathing to him. Without it, he wasn't the man he was.

They heard a yell and Duo ran over to the grill to save Solo from burning the food, and himself.

**TBC**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next two days were the fastest Heero has ever had in his life. The Maxwells treated him as family and included him in a lot of family events. Heero was at first surprised by it all. His mother died when he was a baby and his father was away more often than around and his uncle Jay was more of a stranger than family. He had never experienced family gatherings like the way the Maxwells have. Board or card games at the kitchen table, arguments of which movie to watch each night. He had never had these sorts of experiences and was at first in a cultural shock during his first involvement but quickly gained his footing and enjoyed himself as he had never done before.

Duo had once again taken control of the house kitchen. He whipped up recipes as if he hadn't been out of the kitchen in months, and with each dish, Heero had became his taste-tester. Heero didn't mind. Each dish was delicious.

Duo was enthusiastically happy to be back home and pulled Heero all around town. They even stopped at the building that was his restaurant and stood next to Duo as he reminisced. Heero didn't know if he was going to reopen, he hoped he did, but he knew that any decision he made, his family was behind him.

Surprisingly, two days after his release from the hospital, Eric was standing behind the podium Sunday morning. Heero had never been to church before, but he knew his manners and didn't speak a word throughout the sermon. Duo sat next to him and was equally as quiet but he did pay attention to every word.

Eric stood up on the podium wearing his white and gold robes and cleared his throat.

"As you know, I had a heart attack this week," he said. "And against the judgement of my family, I am up here to talk to you about coincidence.

"What some people would call coincidence, I believe is God's plan. My nephew had been on a journey of self-discovery for a couple of years. Recently, he met a man on a journey of his own a day before my heart attack. Both men think it mere coincidence, but I call it careful planning.

"When the Twin Towers collapsed, seven people were never in the buildings. They survived the disaster that happened that day. One man was on the train going to work. Coincidence, or God's plan for them to survive because they were needed for something important.

"I'm not trying to sway you away from your opinions on the differences between coincidence or fate. That is not the reason I am up here today. Today, I want to say, that whatever the reason, God's plan or plain coincidence, we should thank God for the second chances we are given, because they are rare when given."

That had given Heero something to think about for the rest of the day. He knew more than anyone that second chances were rare, but he believed in coincidence more than fate. He did believe in second chances though, and would give anyone a second chance, except his father. He had given him plenty of chance but was shot down each time.

After church, the Maxwells held a barbeque for the whole family and friends. Quatre, Trowa and Hilde were as well. Heero learned that Hilde's husband was in the military was currently stationed in Afghanistan. He was due to return to the states in a few months, but she did hear from him at least once a week, or whenever his superiors allow him to call. She had started as a dispatcher for the police a month before after confirming her pregnancy.

"Yeah, celebrate now," said Hilde after a congratulatory hug from Duo, "But guess who'll I'll be calling at three o'clock in the morning with any weird craving I get?"

everyone laughed as Duo stammered. Duane put an arm around Duo's shoulders.

"Welcome to married life, bro," he said, which made everyone laughed harder.

"But I'm not even married to her!" he said.

"For the next nine months, you might as well be," said Duane as everyone continued to laugh.

"While we're on the subject of children, Trowa and I have an announcement," said Quatre with a mixture of seriousness and nervousness.

"You're adopting?!" asked Duo excited. Heero had learned that Quatre and Trowa had been trying to adopt for the last two years. Not even Quatre's influence in the corporate world had been enough to sway an agencies decision and Heero felt awful for the men. He could tell that both men would made excellent fathers if given the chance.

"No," said Quatre. "Sadly, we have not been able to adopt at all. But Trowa's sister, Catherine, has offered us the next best thing."

"What?" asked Helen.

"She's volunteered to be our surrogate and she's donated her eggs to us," said Trowa. "She's agreed to wave all parental rights to the baby."

"Even my sisters want to help," said Quatre. "Now there's a baby war between our families over who gets to carry the baby."

Everyone laughed as a phone rang. Heero pulled his out of his pocket and saw that it was Relena.

"Excuse me," he said walking back to the house as he answered the phone. "Yuy."

"Is that any way to greet your girlfriend when she has amazing news," she said.

"What is it, Relena?" he asked leaning against the wall in the hallway.

"We got the apartment!"

Heero gaped in surprise.

"Really? That's great, Relena. When do they want us to move in?"

"As soon as possible. I'm on my way to the Paris airport right now on the way to New York."

"You-You're coming home?" he said shocked. He thought he would have more time. It had only been a four days since she said that she was staying in France and she was heading back now. "Relena, I'm not in California right now..."

"Oh, I know," she said nonchalantly. He could hear the noise of an airport terminal in the background.

"You know?"

"Daddy told me you took a week off and it wasn't hard to figure it out from there. I am glad we got the apartment, though. I didn't think they would let us."

"Why?" asked Heero. He saw Duo peek in on him, and gave him an acknowledging nod.

"Food's ready," Duo whispered. "I'll save some for you."

"Thanks," Heero whispered back.

"Oh, because a lot of the residents are old school. They look down upon a couple living together that's not married or engaged, but I told them not to worry and that we were almost engaged!"

"W-What?"

"I saw the ring in your desk drawer. Not an original hiding place, Heero. I admit, I was terrified when I saw it, which was why I went to New York and then Paris, but after thinking it over, I realized I am ready to take the next step in our relationship."

"Relena, I have to ask you first."

"Well, ask me when I get here. I'll meet you in JFK tomorrow. I'll text you the flight and time. Bye."

Before Heero could say anything, she hung up. Heero looked at the phone in surprise. She was coming back and was just now telling him? Why was she acting like this? Because she was apprehensive about marriage? She could have just said no if he had ask, not travel halfway around the world to get away from him. Relena was a strong-willed woman and that was one of the reasons why he was dating her.

He shook his head. Now he was being paranoid now. There was no way she was avoiding him for anything else.

He left the hallway and walked back out of the house where the party was still in full swing. A few gave him curious looks after watching him leave to take the call, but he just nodded to say he was fine and they returned to their conversations. He found a seat empty next to Duo along with a plate of food, mostly salads since Heero wasn't a big meat eat, and a glass of lemonade.

"What's up?" he asked as Heero picked up the salad dressing.

"I have to go to New York by tomorrow," said Heero. "Relena's coming back."

"Oh," said Duo, disappointed. "I guess we won't be seeing each other again, then."

"I'm sorry, Duo. I don't want to leave like this, but I have to meet her."

Duo nodded. He still looked disappointed and it hurt Heero to see his new friend like this.

"When do you have to go?" he asked.

"Flight is at least twenty hours or so, I don't have to leave until morning. I can grab an early morning bus to New York."

"I see." Duo carefully folded his napkin and set it on the table. "The family would be sorry to see you go. They like you."

"I like them too. I'm sorry to be leaving like this."

Duo shook his head.

"No, it's all right. You have your own life. It's selfish to think that you'll up and leave it." He stood and turned to Heero. His eyes were strangely clouded and Heero shivered at the lack of emotion behind them. "I'll leave you to make your good-byes."

He turned and left back toward the house.

"Duo!" Heero called after him, but the brunet ignored him and entered the house.

XXXXXXX

Duo watched as Heero said good-bye to Helen as he got into the SUV with Duane. Helen gave him a hug and he hesitantly hugged back before handing her something. She nodded and stepped back as Hilde and Quatre said their farewells as well. Heero glanced up at the window where Duo was looking out from, as if sensing him, before turning to the car.

"You should say good-bye."

Duo turned around to see Eric standing behind him.

"What's the point?" said Duo. "I'm never going to see him again."

"I think that's the point." Eric walks over to the window and looks out. "You like him, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter. He has his life, and I have mine."

"Are you going to go off again?"

Duo shook his head.

"I don't know. I got some stuff to think over."

Both men paused for a moment as they heard the car pull away and fade into the distance.

"Did I ever tell you how my parents met?" said Eric.

"You mean Uncle Ellis and Grandma Sarah?" asked Duo in thought. It was known that Eric was the eldest but was only half brother to Duo's grandfather.

"He had came back home for a few weeks after a tour in England during World War II. She was organizing the victory garden at the local church. It amazed them that they grew up only five miles from each other and she was only a couple years his junior at school, which was why they never met until that moment. They had only known each other for two weeks before they decided to get married.

"Money was tight back then with the war going on and the nation just getting over the Depression. A lot of clothes and shoes were hand-me-downs. Even us Maxwells had to make do. The ceremony was small and their honeymoon was a weekend at the guest house before he had to go back on tour. They had planned to have a real honeymoon when he returned."

"But he never did?" said Duo. He knew that because Sarah had married Ellis's younger brother seven years after her first husband's death.

Eric shook his head.

"He died during an air raid in London, trying to get civilians into shelter two months after they married, a week after Sarah found herself pregnant with me. She had written him a letter telling him the news. It came back with his body, unopened."

"I'm sorry, Uncle Eric, but what exactly is the moral of this story?" asked Duo confused.

"I asked my mom why she married my dad after only knowing him for weeks, and she said love has no time limit. They only known each other a few weeks, but they've loved a life time. They had a chance at love and took it."

"Uncle Eric, as amazing as that story is, I don't think it applies here."

Eric smiled as he walked toward the door.

"Don't it?" he asked as he walked out the door.

**TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Heero watched as the people that mingled around his new living room. He didn't even know most of the people here. Some were colleagues from Sanq &amp; Sons while most were friends or associates of Relena. The only people he knew at a personal level were Wufei and Meilin. He was only on working terms with with colleagues, so he never knew a lot of their personal lives. He could only stand there awkwardly holding a flute of champagne. Relena was flittering around the room wearing a beautiful white party dress, chatting with everyone polite. The example of a perfect hostess.

It had been over a week since Heero met Relena at the JFK airport, having only arrived an hour before by bus and completely exhausted. He had Howard transport his car to his garage and paid for the entire trip. Howard had a trucker friend of his transport the car to Heero's garage and it had arrived the day before.

As soon as Relena spotted Heero she apologized for running away and demanded to see the ring Heero had brought. The ring she was now showing off to everyone she met. Thankfully, the media had yet to get ahold of the engagement so there were no reporters or photographers trying to sneak a story.

They left an hour afterward, Relena ignoring Heero's fear of highs and airplanes. She handed him a valium and proceeded to talk wedding designs with her personal designer. Heero gratefully took the pill and spent the plane ride in blissful sleep.

Now, he was standing in the living room of their new apartment room. He didn't really know how to feel about it now. He knew that a month before, he was more than ready to move in with Relena and begin the next phase in his life, but now he did know what to feel. Watching Relena go from guest to guest wasn't new to him, but now he felt that something was missing.

"You look different."

Heero turned to see Wufei standing next to him, holding a glass of water. Wufei never drank alcohol is he couldn't help it. Next to him was Meilin who was smiling at him.

"I don't look any different than I normally do," said Heero.

"I think you do," said Wufei. "Did you learn anything on your trip?"

"Was I supposed to?" asked Heero confused.

"Everybody learns something," said Meilin. "You haven't talk much since you got back. Did something happen?"

"I don't know. I feel like I need to be somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?" asked Wufei. Now he was the one confused. "What exactly happened?"

Before Heero could stop himself, he told them all about his trip; breaking down in a small town in Kansas, meeting Duo, picking Duo up, their trip together, everything. Both of his friends listened as he retold his tale and didn't speak a word until he was done.

"So, what are you going to do?" asked Wufei. Heero looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I've always known you to be smart, but you always followed your gut. It's why you always came out the victor in the court room. If something felt off, you backed out. Why are you hesitating now?"

"I don't know."

"Something happened, didn't it?" asked Meilin. "Something you're not too sure about?"

"I just got a lot to think about," said Heero. "I guess I'm still not over my trip."

"It's not the destination, it's the journey," said Wufei. "It means you learn more getting to where you're going then when you get there."

"I know," said Heero. "I've heard all of your Chinese fortune cookie speel through college, remember?"

"True, but have you listened?" Wufei looks down at his near empty glass. "I'm getting some more water."

Meilin turned to follow, but turned back to Heero.

"Heero, are you happy where you are?" she asked before following her husband to the bar.

Heero watched her go as her words played through his head. Was he happy? He was content, he knew that. Was that the same as being happy? He was marrying Relena because they had common ground and she was an independent woman. There was her attention seeking problem, but he overlooked that due to her being a celebrity.

His mind flashed back to Duo animately talking about his restaurant and talking about the places he had been during his journey. Why was he thinking about him at a time like this? He was supposed to be hosting a party, even though he didn't know the first thing about it.

"Oh, Heero!"

Heero looked over to see Relena waving him over. She was standing with a man who wore an exspensive tuxedo and kind face. Heero recognised him as Trieze Khushrenada, the owner of the agency Relena worked for. Heero walked over to them and Relena linked her arm in his.

"Trieze had kindly offered to help with the wedding!" she said. "He knows an amazing wedding planner. All we have to do is tell her what we want done and she'll do it. And Une will design all of the assemble! Isn't that great?!"

"Yes," said Heero a little uneasy. He didn't know a lot about planning a wedding, but he thought it was a little more hands on.

"I have the most perfect designs for you," said Une. "What is definitely your color, Relena, so you'll have no problem there."

Oh, thank you, Une," said Relena happily. "I was thinking roses and carnations for the flowers, and the color scheme should be white and a silvery grey.

"That's perfect," said Une with a smile.

"Relena, when did you decide on that?" asked Heero.

"Last night after dinner," said Relena. "It just came to me! Isn't it genius? We'll have our wedding in less than four months at this rate."

"Four months?" Heero said looking at her in surprise. "Shouldn't we reserve six months in advance?"

Relena giggles.

"Silly, that's for normal people. Daddy has connections throughout the city. We can reserve anywhere within a month."

Heero suddenly couldn't breathe and he stepped away from Relena and her friends. Relena didn't notice because she was talking designs for the bridesmaids gowns and Trieze was off talking to a photographer documenting the party.

He went to the small balconey and took several breathes. Everything was crashing down too fast. Everything he thought he wanted wasn't coming together. A month ago, he knew without a doubt that this was where he wanted to be but now, listening to Relena plan the wedding and standing among people he barely knew. Now he knew that this wasn't what he wanted. This didn't feel right to him.

"I wouldn't blame you."

Heero turned to find Zechs standing next to him with a champagne glass in hand.

"What?" he asked.

"If you backed out, I wouldn't blame you."

"What do you mean?"

Zechs walked up and stood next to Heero. The balconey wasn't large but it had enough room for two people. Zechs looked out at the streets below with Heero before talking again.

"My sister was always an attention seeker," he said. "Ever since she was small. She would do anything to be the center of attention. I think that was why she became a model."

He turned to the streets below, his glass hanging from one hand.

"I always thought you two were right together, you hardly ever fought, I kept my mouth shut because you two seemed have the perfect relationship." He looked toward Heero. "But that's different now right?"

"I don't know, Zechs," said Heero. "I thought I was ready to marry Relena, but now I feel like something's missing."

"Something? I'll say." Zechs took a sip and turned back to the door. "I won't ask what happened. I'm sure you got enough of that from your friends in there. What I will say is that you should think about what you want, not what others want. Whatever had happened to you changed you. That I can tell. Must have been fate."

"Fate?" asked Heero in surprise. "So you believe in fate?"

Zechs paused in thought and shrugged.

"I believe everything happens for a reason. What's past is past. The point is what we've learned from it."

Heero heard Eric's voice in his head as Zechs left.

_"Everything happens for a reason."_ He had said. Heero didn't really think much of it at the time, but could what he had been saying was true. Was there a reason why he went on his trip other than to propose to Relena.

Heero walked into the apartment again and saw Relena laughing with a group of her associates. It seemed that they were in their own world and he was on another planet.

Walking over to the wall, Heero pulled the fire alarm. A piercing siren ran through the room and people looked around in panic. Wufei and Zechs immediately went to their wives and ushered them out of the room. Relena looked around panicked before running into the bedroom.

"Heeero, hurry, we have to get my clothes or they'll be ruined!" she said. She ran into her closet and pulled out a large suitcase. "You grab the jewerly and I'll get the Chanel."

Heero was already out the door. He rode the elevator down to the lobby where everyone was outside waiting for the fire trucks and police to arrive. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello? Yes, I would like tomorrow's bus schedule...Thank you."

He hung up and looked in surprise to see Wufei standing in front of him. He was afraid his friend would be mad but Wufei just gave him a small smile.

"Call me when you get there," he said. "I'll have your things sent to you."

"Thanks," said Heero.

"Where are you going to go?"

Heero paused for a moment before shrugging.

"Who knows. I'll go wherever the road takes me. I might end up where I'm supposed to be."

"Just make sure you call every once in a while."

Heero nodded and walked down the street. Wufei turned to his wife as she linked her arm into his.

"I love it when a plan comes together," she said.

"Oh, you planned this, huh," said Wufei with a soft laugh. She rolled her eyes at him with a smile.

"Well, obviously I didn't know he was going to pick up a hitchhiker, fall in love with him, and turn his whole worldly perpective upside down. I was hoping that the trip would help him figure out that marrying Relena would have been the biggest mistake he could make. I couldn't have predicted the rest."

"So you don't mind that Heero would date a guy?" Wufei, of course, knew about Heero's experimentation in college but, despite Meilin's openmindedness, he didn't know if she would be all right with it.

"You know my cousin, Chu-yen?" He nods. "Her partner's a woman."

"Oh." He didn't know that. Meilin's parents were strict traditionalists, hence their marriage. It took some time but he did come to love Meilin, and she him. "I never met her."

"She's my cousin on my mother's side," said Meilin. "Her parents wanted her to marry the son of a posh politician, but on her eighteenth birthday, she ran away with her best friend, who also happened to be her girlfriend. I kept their secret they whole time they were seeing each other behind her parents' backs, and I still keep in contact with her."

"We'll have to invite her over for dinner," he said.

"How does this weekend sound to you?"

Wufei softly laughed. He never could win one against his wife.

**TBC**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**6 Months Later**

Duo chopped onions with mechanical precision, the juices no longer effecting his eyes after getting used to the sting for so long. He wore a stained white apron and a white shortsleeve shirt. His hair was kept out of his face by a bandana wrapped around his head. Next to him was a boiling pot of gumbo ready to be served and around him, his sous chef gave a garnish order to a junior cook.

After Heero left the Maxwell estate, Duo decided it was time to get his life back on track. He reopened his restaurant and of course brought Trowa back as his sous chef. He handled the books himself now, which was a lot more work for him, but it was better then the alternative. He knew he would have to find someone to do them soon, but until then, he wanted to make sure everything ran smoothly.

His family had been happy that he had started his business again, but also worried about him. He didn't see why. He was back home and happy(ish) and his restaurant was back in full swing. He didn't see anything for them to be worried about.

His mind went back to that week six months before. Of when he spent countless hours with Heero and drove through half the country with him. He didn't want to admit that the time he had spent with the man had been the happiest he'd been for a long time. He didn't want to go as far as say he fell in love with the man, but the problem was that after that day, Duo couldn't get him out of his head.

Who was he kidding? He was in love with the man. He didn't expect to fall in love with anyone after Alex, especially not after knowing them for a week. He didn't really know when it happened. Somewhere between the Poe house and Heero returning to California, Duo had fallen head over heels for him. He didn't really believe in fate, but he now believed in Uncle Eric's words six months ago. Love had no time limit.

And what did he have to show for it? Nothing. Heero went back to be with his successful, super model girlfriend and his successful job. He had found the answer to his journey, and Duo had ended his. There was nothing else to do but get his life back in order.

A yell brought him out of his musings and he turned to see a junior chef had set his pan on fire accidently. It was an occupational hazard in a kitchen, but the chef was panicking on how to get the fire put out without burning himself. The chef was just out of culinary school and was still learning ways around a kitchen and Duo decided to take him under his wing.

"Out of the way," said Duo, using a towel to grab the pan, dumped it all in a sink and doused it with water. He turned back to the frightened chef with a smile. "Got to get used to fire if you want to be in a kitchen. Just make sure you don't flambé yourself, okay?"

"I'm sorry, chef," said the chef embarressingly. " I don't know what happened. One second I was searing the chicken and the next..."

"Too much oil," said Duo. "You got to be careful of the flame next time, okay."

"Yes, chef."

Duo turned back to his station, and saw Trowa looking at him with a smile, which was a little weird since the man rarely smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm just happy to see you in your enviroment again," said Trowa.

"I'm in my enviroment right now," said Duo confused.

"Now yes, but that wasn't what I meant."

That confused Duo more.

"Trowa, what are you getting at?"

"Duo, I'm saying this because I'm your friend, and you're Quatre's friend, and we're worried for you. For the past few months, you have been a total zombie. You're going through the motions of living, but you weren't alive. The only time you even see a spark is when you're in the kitchen. And you pull the craziest hours. You're the first one in and the last one out."

"I do not!" said Duo defiantly, and not very well.

"I saw the alarm records, Duo," said Trowa. "They're deactivated at six in the morning and then reactivated at twelve midnight. That tells me you're trying to ignore something. Or someone."

"Leave it, Barton," said Duo angrily before turning to his station. He hated how he was an open book to his friends.

"How can I when it's eating you up like this? You love him."

"What does it matter? He's gone. He's back in California with his perfect job, his perfect girl friend, his perfect life. I'll never see him again."

Trowa watched sadly as a tear rolled down Duo's face. He used a tissue from his pocket to wipe away.

"When you ended things with Alex, I knew you'd eventually find love again, because that's who you are," he said. "You can't help but care a person. When you were with Heero, you were happier than I had seen you in years, even with Alex. I thanked Heero for that, and I wished that he did stay, but you know it's wrong to keep a person when they have their own journey to finish."

"Only problem is, it's not with me."

They were interrupted when one of the waiters, Tony, walks in with confused look. He walks over to Duo and sets a plate on the counter.

"A customer asks if we have any job openings," he said.

"We don't," said Duo chopping green bell peppers. "You know that."

"I do, and I told him, but he said he has a degree in law and accounting. He wants to know if you can hire him to do the books."

"Just get him to pay his bill and leave."

"I tried that too, but refuses to leave until he spoke to you."

Duo groans as he tugs off his apron and heads toward the dining room.

"I don't have time to deal with con men wanting to steal more of my money," he said as he walked out, completely missing Trowa's smirk behind him. In the dining room, Duo put his hands on his hips and looked around the room.

"All right, which one of you bastards wants to work with me?" he said, making all conversation in the room stop and the diners look at him in surprise. For a couple of seconds, the whole room was silent.

"I do."

Duo's heart stopped in his chest and he turned to see Heero standing in the corner of the restaurant. He looked the same, except for the faded flannel shirt and blue jeans he wore. Duo was frozen on the spot as Heero walked up to stand in front of him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" said Duo, finally out of his shock, sort of.

"Well, I was hoping for a hello," said Heero with a laugh.

"Hello, now what the hell are you doing here? It's been six months."

"Yeah, I know," said Heero sheepishly, which was cute but Duo kept his focus on the man in front of him. "I had a lot to think about."

"Is Relena with you?"

Heero looked up in shock.

"What? No. We broke up, six months ago. I had been on the road until today."

"Why? Why are you here and not..." Duo took a breathe before speaking again. "With her?"

"When my sixty seconds came around I realized I had everything I ever wanted... but nothing I really needed. And I think what I need is here. I had my whole life planned out before I met you, and to find out that there could be something better confused me, and I knew only one person could help me. And i came all this way to see if you maybe think so too. If you do, well... I don't really have plans past that, which is new for me. I don't believe in fate, but I'm starting to believe that maybe there is something pulling us to where we're supposed to be.

"And so, Eric Maxwell, here is my proposal; I propose we not make plans, I propose we give this thing a chance and let it work out how it works out. So what do you say, do you wanna not make plans with me?"

Everything in the room was silent as they watched the interaction between the two men. Heero could feel sweat gather on the palms of his hands as he watched Duo stare straight at him, not that they weren't sweating before. For six months he had been driving all over America, trying to find the acceptance that Duo had in his life. When he thought he found it somewhere between Niagra Falls and Washington DC, he went to the only place he felt he belonged, even if it was only for a few days.

He hadn't wanted to admit it to anyone, but in the week he had known Duo, he had fallen in love with the man. He had hoped that Duo had felt the same by the looks he had been trying to hide from Heero and the kiss they had shared. Looking at the man now, he didn't know if he had made the right decision or not.

Duo turned and walked back into the kitchen. Heero's heart plummeted to his stomach. Drawing a shaky breath he nodded.

"I guess that would be a Southern no," he said and left the restaurant.

Heero drew another breath as he walked down the street. The summer air was humid, nothing like he was used to in California, but he came to like it anyway.

He actually didn't have a plan after this. He didn't think Duo would have said no. He had no plan for this. He thought Duo felt the same way he did, but he guessed he was wrong. He wasn't usually wrong, but he had been learning a lot the past couple of months. He couldn't be right about everything. Maybe Duo had felt nothing but an instant attraction to him. It was in the realm of possibility. That could have been all it was.

"Heero Yuy, where do you think you're going?"

Heero's heart went to his throat at his name coming from behind him. He turned around to find Duo panting as if out of breath and his hair free from the bandana that had been covering.

"Why did you walk out?" asked Duo.

"You said no," said Heero.

"I didn't say anything."

"You walked away."

"I left to get this."

Duo held up a his hand and Heero saw the Maxwell family ring.

"I went to get this," he said. "I don't wear it while I'm at work. Afraid I might drop it in a pot of sauce or something, so I keep it in the office safe. I swore that I would never give this to anyone again, but after being with you, I couldn't think of anyone else I would give it to."

He stepped up to Heero and took his hand, pressing the ring into it.

"Heero, I don't want to not make plans with you. I want to make plans with you. I want us to find out way together and hopefully more. So, I accept your job offer."

"Thank God," said Heero laughing and grabbed the back of Duo's head to pull him into a kiss. Duo laughed into the kiss as he returned it.

Heero didn't realize how much he had missed Duo by just one kiss, but now he knew. After years of feeling confined, he finally felt like he could breathe, and Duo was the reason.

When they pulled apart, Heero placed his forehead against Duo's as Duo slipped on the ring. It was a perfect fit.

"Did you have this altered?" he asked.

"No," said Duo. "We must be the same size."

"Fate," said Heero, earning a laugh from Duo. "So, where does a guy have to go to get a good meal around here?"

Duo laughed.

"Oh, I know a great place, but I warn you. The chef's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to his cooking."

"Sounds perfect, " said Heero.

They started walking back toward the restaurant hand-in-hand with bright smiles on their faces.

"Hey, Heero, I was thinking of taking another trip," said Duo as they walked. "What do you think about Europe?"

"Well, I was hoping to finish our trip around America again, but I think we can do Europe," said Heero. "Or both?"

Duo smiled at the idea.

"I like both," he said.

**THE END**


End file.
